About Jacanda (Their words)
"Immaculately played and warmly produced" (Venue CD review) "World class" (Bristol Rocks CD Review) "Warm melodies and emotive songwriting.......classic pop songs" (Subba-Cultcha) . "Folk-tinged pop songs spiked with warmth and heart....a convincing and graceful performance" (www.ukmusicreview.co.uk) Jacanda is the new band from Bristol-based artist Chris Pritchett. Chris has been described as a "formidable singer-songwriter" (Songwriter Showcase London)" and a "tuneful, polished, intelligent songsmith" (Decode Magazine), and has written and performed with several artists as well as promoting his solo material. Formed in Bristol in January 2006, Jacanda is a vibrant extension of Chris Pritchett's classic folk-pop songwriting, calling to mind the memorable lyrics and melodic warmth of Neil Finn and Crowded House. World music rhythms and jazz-inflected piano and sax are woven into Chris' delicate guitar and folk storytelling to create a refreshingly warm take on classic mature pop music. "Back to the sky" features 10 full production songs recorded from July - September 2006 at Lakeside Studios in Bristol, with the band's instrumentation complemented by sprinkles of cello, mandolin and bass, as well as James and Chris' glorious harmonies. The subject matter ranges from lost love and wasted opportuntities (Wheels) to humanitarian protest over the situation in Darfur (Roundabout), but always keeping to the idea of the circular nature of life. Nowhere is this more appropriately demonstrated than in the standout "Outside to in", which deals with the subject of death in a redemptive and uplifting way, before washing the tears away with one of the finest sax solos you'll ever hear.
Band Website
www.jacandamusic.com
Band Members
Chris Pritchett Guitar voice Ed Body and Steven Beek Percussion Kev Hawthorn Piano James Phillips Sax, voice Nick Pritchett Guitar, cello, voice
Influences
Neil Finn, Seth Lakeman, James Taylor, David Gray, Tom Mcrae, Crosy, Stills & Nash, Eagles, Gerry Rafferty, Neal Morse, Steven Wilson, Peter Gabriel
Sounds Like Have a listen.....
folky, rocky, soppy, proggy, but always acoustic-y
Record Label
Emubands
EAN NUMBER 5060109094350
Tracklist
- Ashes
- Shade of an ordinary life
- You're gone
- Skimming stones
- The picture
- Believe
- Shattered
- Walls
- Runaway heart
- Clocks
Official Description
Following the release of their first album, 'Back to the Sky' in 2006, Jacanda are back with a brand new album titled 'Skimming Stones'.
'Skimming Stones' expands on the folk-pop blueprint of 'Back to the Sky', offering more variety in the arrangements and adding subtle programming touches and strings to the acoustic core of songs Chris thinks are his best yet. Phil Beer (Show of Hands) pops up to lend some fiddle as well. Jacanda's lyrical endeavours range from real world tragedy in the Amish community (Shattered), arguing and estrangement (Walls) to a strange psychotic fantasy involving doing unpleasant things to noisy and disruptive people on public transport ("Ashes" – probably best just to hear it). "Skimming Stones" also sees saxophonist James and bassist Nick turning in cosmic lead vocal performances, on the pithy break-up song "Shade of an ordinary life" and the wistful "Believe" respectively.
Total Formats Description and Opinion
Having recieved and loved Jacanda's debut album, when I was informed the new album was coming out soon, I was quite excited, it was a fair while in coming, but in my opinion well worth the wait. It's a second album, second album's are well known and documented as normally being very iffy and generally pretty poor, suffering from second album syndrome, this one however is a massive surprise, it's nothing short of brilliant. Of course, liking folk and soft rock definately helps, but this crosses over into being genuinely likeable for mainstream listeners of fine music, it's certainly not as one uneducated reviewer wrote "bargain bin" music.
Which leads me on... I've read other reviews about Jacanda, some saying that the voices are too perfect and that the music is only good if you are a major fan of folk. The irony of these less than appealing reviews, is that the only people that seem to say a single bad word about Jacanda are sites and reviewers that would be better off, well, streering very much clear of music all together, to put it very politely.
This is an album, which in my opinion people should definately give a chance, I will say it one last time... FOLK! It is definately more likeable if you like that kind of music. I've seen bands come and go over the years, many which could have made it, many which did make it and a mountain of bands that never got close to even the first step. Jacanda in my opinion are certainly a band the deserve to make it and in time, I think will. Of course, if you are into Girls Aloud, your probably wasting your time even reading this.
At the very least, go and have a listen to their music over on their myspace webpage http://www.myspace.com/jacanda and decide for yourselves whether you like Jacandas sound or not. Don't just pass it on by, it's better than that.
Rating
An album that is definately worth a listen to. Although the sound will not be to the taste of everyone.
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