Aaron Jerome quickly made headways into the hearts and minds of electronic and pop lovers with his collaboration heavy debut record in 2011. The much hyped follow-up, Wonder Where We Land, is no different in its reliance on a slew of guests, however the album is already looking like it’ll be be distinctly different from his debut.
Although it’s not released until the 22nd of September we’ve already heard enough to prove as such. SBTRKT’s team-up with Ezra Koenig surfaced weeks ago with its cantankerous industrial percussion, however it’s the latest three tracks that dropped in quick succession over the last two weeks, which only furthers the sentiment that Jerome’s growth on album no.2 has been considerable.
While ‘Higher’, featuring up and coming rapper Raury, is fairly straight forward in its synth based production and not too dissimilar from what we’ve heard before it’s the A$AP Ferg collaboration ‘Voices In My Head’ and Caroline Polachek-led (of Chairlift fame) ‘Look Away’ that best display SBTRKT’s new direction.
‘Voices In My Head’ is perhaps one of Jerome’s most organic offerings so far. The piano and percussion elements mixed in-between the synth nuances allows for an almost trippy and dark mix.
Meanwhile ‘Look Away’, which can be heard via this interactive video here, again relies on a key piano component as Polachek sounds possessed and affected at times as spine tingling screeches and disparaged sonic elements intermingle.
While what we’ve heard so far doesn’t quite sound like the pop hits that Jerome’s debut provided, Wonder Where We Land is shaping up as a truly unique and challenging second record.
