The artist Tom Cassell’s latest release via the project Jupiter13 brings music fans an ambient and colourful playlist that accompanies and enhances your day in a rhythmic, uplifting manner. I Am a Robot begins the journey, a track with a reggae-like rhythm, plenty of space, and equal parts organic and electronic instrumentation. There are a couple of threads that keep the groove constant throughout, but elsewhere – the artist offers meandering riffs and experimental samples that weave this underlying concept around you in a hypnotic and easy to escape within way.
Whatever expectations you inevitably form after hearing the opening piece, the following track Big Fat Love is likely to quickly flip them upside down. The overall vibe is perhaps similar, there are threads throughout the project – mainly the rhythm, the space, and the clear-cut, characterful building blocks that add familiarity to an entrancing ambiance. This second piece though is one that drives with a string section, a notably longer melody line emerges, and there are some fairly distinctive vocal repetitions that keep the song’s concept at the forefront of the experience. Once again, the music fuses the real and the unreal, various elements cascade around you – increasingly so towards the end. There’s a sense of manic delicacy about the latter half that’s all at once chaotic and calming.
The Way U Want continues the journey with a slightly eighties vibe, a certain depth and funk that brings a nostalgic aura to the stage and makes for a further touch of welcomed nostalgia. The bass and the varied vocal melody line creates more of a structurally relatable or mainstream style song, feeling quite electronically relevant to both the sounds of yesteryear and those of today. Dashes of Daft Punk alternate with those of a more Depeche Mode vibe. The influx of lyrics here works well to give you more of a focused sentiment and some clear ideas to ponder.
Carry-on later takes the nostalgia even further and presents an uplifting, hopeful synth-pop piece, with a vintage crackle and a vocal display and energy not unlike that of the Beach Boys. By this point, you recognise the inherent creativity and passion of the Jupiter13 project. This is about a love for music, for expression, for creating soundscapes within which audiences can truly feel embraced and free from the concerns of the real world. It’s almost like jazz-cafe easy listening, but there’s weight to it, and experimentation, and increasing enthusiasm.
The EP comes to a soothing finish with the thoughtful and reflective Death of a Star. Instrumentation drives again, the listener fills in the gaps. The chord progression and certain simple riffs pave the way and create a delicate atmosphere, within which listeners can allow their minds to wander freely.
There’s a blissfully mellow mood to this final piece and it closes the experience down with a last grasp at eclecticism and a fascinating addition to the creative catalogue. And still the beat goes on, the progression is constant and calming. Alongside of this, some stunning melodies are crafted in the distance – these strings, as it appears, fly around you with sheer passion and soul. It’s hypnotic, an absolute highlight – without question – and a beautiful way to go out.
Visit the Jupiter13 Website for more information.
