Jeremy is self-obsessed. Jeremy is pop. Jeremy overdoes things. Gratuitously. Jeremy indulges ostentatious musical whims. And Jeremy has just made his first great piece of work: How We Became is his masterpiece.
I’ve been checking out this half-French fop’s work for a few years, since I caught him at one of the Mystery Jets’ Eel Pie Island Bandpies, spooling tales of rentboys and such, strumming his guitar, while his voice fought for attention. Interesting stuff, but not compelling. Then he progressed, churning out a couple of decent tunes, like 5 Verses. He was obviously a talented chap, but I couldn’t obsess over what felt to me like dry and bloodless songs. Jeremy, where’s your passion? I asked. And then I went and listened to something else.
Imagine my surprise then, putting on this CD and being forced to let Jeremy fully into my heart. He is the same Jeremy, but more knowing, now. There is a lot of really beautiful music here, as though he’s been suddenly possessed by the spirit of Brian Wilson in his prime. There are chord progressions that tighten tendons, and make you want to do some parkour in a balletic frenzy.
He’s also very canny at matching lyric to music. “I heard that it’s true that everything is made of tiny bits of nothing. There’s music in the gaps and colour in the cracks, as the sirens wail and car alarms ring” is delivered so delicately in Waiting Room, a lullaby of electronic drums and oboes and flutes. You can’t help but become as soppy as the man himself.
The record is very much a studio thing. It sounds as if he’s laid everything out to click track, layered in his keyboards and vocals, then got his servants to fill in their designated parts, with utter precision and exactitude. There isn’t a slid or bent note, not even a spaghetti hoop of a solo. The only emotional expression on the whole CD comes from Jeremy’s uncannily skilful songwriting, and his boyish note-perfect vocal squeaks, whimpers, and entreaties. It’s testament to the power of those factors that they’re enough to keep you in for the whole shebang.
There are some surprisingly rocked-out moments, too. Just slipped into the mix. Jeremy still warbles on top, the ghost of the click track still hovers, but just with distorted guitar riffing away and driving drums pounding a strange imitation of rock bands. The rest of the time, we are left with a world of synths, round bass tones, gentle acoustic guitar samba-chords, robo-tight drumbeats, and really sexy wind instruments. Check the stunning horns on Dancing with The Enemy. And production about as perfect as it gets.
I must admit my mind started to wander as the last track drawled into verse three and a half, and then I realised why it had to be the last track. A sequence of pure musical wizardry divides the song in two. Debussy duetting with King Crimson, followed by a one minute piano and snare crescendo. “What a surprise! We grew up,” realises Jeremy. Truly.
This isn’t an experimental record, at all, but I’m still fairly stumped for unqualified comparisons. Let’s try, err… The Divine Comedy, but no… it’s more earnest. Fugu, but no… less ironic. Or Patrick Wolf, maybe, but no… much less masturbatory. Essentially, this is its own beast. That’s what makes it great. Jeremy Warmsley’s vision has finally borne fruit. Very juicy fruit.
You can buy “How We Became” through roughtrade.com, and there’s a free download of “If He Breaks Your Heart” on his own site, jeremywarmsley.com. See him live at Barden’s Boudoir this Saturday, March 28,, when he plays alongside Betty and The Werewolves, or on his tour of the UK and Germany, as listed on his myspace.
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