Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Jade Imagine, Cooking Vinyl/Milk Records 2020.
Melbourne based alternative pop/rock band Jade Imagine released their debut LP, Basic Love, last year and have used the pandemic enforced isolation, and lack of gigging, to release a new four-track EP You Remind Me Of Something I Lost.
I will review the album at a later date but if you want to know what the band is about this EP is a good starting point.
Jade Imagine play an interesting brand of hypnotic psych pop.
The four piece outfit is led by singer/songwriter Jade McInally (who was formally a member of Teeth & Tongue and Jess Ribeiro) along with Liam Halliwell (The Ocean Party) on bass, producer/guitarist Tim Harvey (Emma Louise, Real Feelings), and James Harvey (Teeth & Tongue) on drums.
The lead single from the EP is Coastal Pines and it’s a ready-made, radio-friendly, track with an understated catchiness that builds the more times you listen to it.
Like all good pop songs, it has a melody that feels familiar delivered with a laid back tempo that is trippy and dreamy.
The song explores the conflict between the head and the heart.
McInally comments that: “For me, it’s the never-ending struggle between the city and the ocean pulling in two different directions.”
The four tracks on this EP have a mesmerising effect.
As a band Jade Imagine are not about being flashy but rather about establishing a mood.
Their songs are mostly slow and introspective and they layer one upon the other to produce a listening experience that entices you further and further into their world.
A world of dreams and imagination.
One of the things I like about the band is their use of space.
Space is extremely important in music, particularly if you want to foster imagination. People need space to think.
This is really evident in the final track on the EP, Feelin’ Blue, which has a particularly sparse backing which reinforces the sense of isolation and introspection exhibited in the lyrics.
