When Mercury's In Retrograde: A JW Sargent Album Review
Photo courtesy of Jesse DeFlorio |
Yes. Yes. No. Absolutely.
Those answers are in response to JW Sargent’s debut solo EP, In Retrograde.
Sargent has been playing music for what seems like his entire
life, starting by picking up a guitar at age seven. He’s the only one in the
family that plays instruments, but it’s his father that loved music and became
his biggest supporter as he chose to pursue it.
He played in bands starting in middle school and
transitioning into high school and college. Post-graduation, he found himself
back in the area he grew up in and in a weird transition period. Moving back
was a clean-slate period for JW and he wanted to use it to his advantage. “I
treated it as a fresh start and when I moved back up here I took that as an
opportunity… as a sign to see what I can do on my own. I was working in so many
ways to be self-reliant in a lot of other areas of my life and I brought that
to music,” he said.
The recording process for In Retrograde was similar to
when he recorded with the bands he was in, except this time around was missing
a crucial element – the ideas and opinions of others. “One of the struggles
that I had to figure out and overcome [was] how to trust yourself and get
behind your own ideas. I was trying to be as authentic as possible and not
trying to box myself in. I was just trying to let the songs come out
organically and not shy away from things I shied away from previously. I wanted
to let it evolve on its own.”
And evolve it did. In Retrograde combines the sound
structure and instrumentation that you would find in a variety of different
genre bands and combines them into just four songs. There are many apparent
complex layers within each track that blend together in a sound that shouldn’t
be defined. The lyrics are powerful and haunting which adds to that undefined
sound. Its message brings that whole “light at the end of the tunnel” triteness
without the excessive repetition.
“The whole concept of In Retrograde has a lot to do with
the illusion of moving backwards but actually moving forward. A lot of times,
people are working hard at something and the harder you work it seems like the
further you’re slipping backwards. But really that’s sort of an illusion because
even if it doesn’t look like physical progress or tangible progress, every
little step is a step. In a way, sort of coming to terms with that and taking
solace in finding that lightness in the darkness.”
In Retrograde is available November 18, 2016.
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