Singer-songwriter and bow-tie aficionado Jordan Rabjohn has been a busy boy of late. Since his debut album JR came out last year, he’s put out numerous videos for songs on his YouTube channel, as well as taking his track Numbers to the Vodafone future breakers finals. JR2 (I don’t know how he comes up with these names) follows on from where his last album picks up. Made up of his eight tracks (seven, plus a second version of Souvenir) this is more of a mixtape of the tracks he’s had out since the last album. If you’ve followed Rabjohn as he has released the songs, then there’s not much new to get your listening gear around. But if you’ve enjoyed the songs on their original release and been waiting to be able to hear the songs away from YouTube, then this is the album for you.
To anyone new to Rabjohn’s music, lets start from the beginning. He’s come from the American indie music scene, right? Wait…what? He’s from Sheffield? Well it’s an easy mistake to make. His accent doesn’t give much away of his Yorkshire routes. But careful listeners however will notice a couple of bids to his hometown.
In a way the songs lend themselves to the videos he filmed with them, and anyone familiar with the songs already will have those mental pictures as they listen. But the songs also very much stand up on their own merit. Rabjohn stands head and shoulders over his higher charting counterparts with sassy and quirky lyrics, never more so than on opening track Mexico, which kicks things off with a bang. There’s a real development on this album from the first, showing a more versatile artist, not afraid to play around with different styles and ideas. Monopoly tilts its hat to The Police (the band, not the law enforcement agency) whilst Souvenir slows things down and shows his sensitive side. The cheeky S.A.S is the answer to the question ‘how many euphemisms can you fit into a three minute song?’ I wonder what his mum does think of it. She’s probably more a fan of the Sheeran-esque ‘Perfume.
A couple of extra new tracks would have really finished the album off nicely, but that’s just nitpicking, because the album is made up of quality tune after quality tune. There’s obviously a big future ahead for Jordan Rabjohn, and if the songs on this album are anything to go by, you’ll be seeing a lot more of his face in the coming months.
For more info on Jordan, check out his Facebook and Twitter.
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