In around eight weeks’ time, thousands of punters with itchy boot-raising fingers will descend upon Meredith’s Supernatural Amphitheatre to witness Sydney trio Jagwar Ma’s return to Australian shores to promote new album Every Now And Then, out tomorrow. But after three years between drinks, is the new offering enough to give them the boot? Or is it a bit Jagwar Nah?
Their first full-length offering, Howlin, was an almost-instant classic of the Australian indie dance pop scene, and propelled them toward a global audience. With their nod to ’80s era Manchester club scene stalwarts Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, et al., they had found a hugely successful formula that balanced modern indie and dance elements with just enough nostalgia to not be labelled a derivative cover act.
Every Now And Then, while not deviating hugely from this formula, is an evolution of sorts. The long, instrumental dance breaks are still there, as are the arena-rock drums and arpeggiated synths (all of which are oft sodden with reverb). Here though, there’s something new the band have been able to tap into.
While Howlin often anchored its driving rhythms and ethereal soundscapes to anguished – and sometimes mysterious – lyrical melodies, Jagwar Ma’s latest is bright and largely optimistic. While their earlier, more emotional approach was definitely a strength, the move away from this has not been to their detriment. Every Now and Then feels more inclusive and more accessible without sounding boring or too inoffensive.
‘O B 1’ was a wise choice for first single, as it seems the most familiar-sounding track on the album. Its slow burn and club-drops give us the band we know and love, while the jangly guitar and strained vocal give us a taste of some of the new tricks they’ve learned between albums.
Single number 2 comes in the form of ‘Give Me a Reason’, a track that digs heavily into the ecstasy-fuelled influences that inform much of their work. It’s a long jam that pulls every trick from every loose shirtsleeve they own. Repetitive bass and synth loops, 909-like percussion, reverberated spoken word, and even vocoder lay a solid foundation for audiences the world over to get mindless on the dancefloor.
‘Ordinary’ offers a refreshing change from the dance-heavier tracks as it takes us from its funky verses into psychedelic choruses complete with catchy falsetto vocals and side chained strings. Closing track, the Animal Collective-like ‘Colours of Paradise’, also shows a welcome bit of variety, even if it wears its inspiration a little too obviously.
While Every Now And Then is, overall, a strong and well-crafted album, it is sometimes let down by attempts at being anthemic that occasionally miss the mark. ‘Loose Ends’, ‘Say What You Feel’ and ‘Batter Up’ are all tracks that nearly make the album; these tracks throw some of the strongest melodies and grooves the band has at you, only to fall just a little bit short of what you think is coming by reverting to well-worn schtick instead of elevating the track to somewhere new. A little more risk-taking could have paid off in a huge way. And while lyricism has never been Jagwar Ma’s strongest suit, some of the phrases on this album are questionable enough to distract you from some great things happening in the instrumentation.
Take these criticisms with a grain of salt, though, because once you put them aside, you realise that Every Now And Then is not an album for a reviewer someone sitting in a bedroom, it is for large groups of very happy people at festivals, dancefloors, house parties and late-night club sets. It is obvious that this album was meticulously crafted with these environments in mind and it is within these spaces that it will truly deliver.
7.5 / 10
Every Now And Then is out tomorrow through Future Classic.
