- Jaala’s sophomore release has been pretty hotly anticipated. Debut Hard Hold was 3RRR Album of the week, and had glowing reviews on Pitchfork and JJJ, so you can see why there’s been some buzz building around this Brisbane native. With good reason: Jaala has the smartest guitar-brain going anywhere in Australian music right now. Marry that with full-blown music-nerd rhythmic patterns, complex chords, and algebraic harmonic structures, and there’s kinda no-one who can come at her.
All this with a seemingly effortless lyricality.. by rights stuff this nerdy shouldn’t flow so naturalistically, but it does. Jaala weaves these intricate melodies and uneven numbers into something that leads logically from riff into pre-chorus, sidestep back to verse, tack to alt-chorus. Part of her gift is precisely that: making the angularity of her ideas blend seamlessly into a flowing whole. There’s a lot to dig into on this, but I want to take a second to point out that the composition and arrangement of the ideas on this record may be an even more impressive achievement than the intricate individual ideas themselves.
Basically I want someone to give Jaala an extravagant budget for a gate-fold double vinyl release with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, burn half the money on gigolos and blow, and still deliver a triple platinum quadraphonic three-hour epic. I guess what I’m saying is: whatever giant shiny pedestal we’ve been used to putting Jimmy Page, Steve Vai, Mars Volta or whoever on, Jaala is ready for that pedestal.
This is the smartest rock music to hit the Oz airwaves since the heyday of '90’s indie rockers: Sandpit or Shuriken, or maybe early early Augie March. What make Jaala even better than her predecessors, however, is that as a vocalist she seems to grasp something essential in her subject matter. Music this intellectually satisfying can often be emotionally dry, but Jaala seems capable of bringing herself to the table along with her chops. We feel like we’re getting something of her soul as well as her ample brain. The themes are personal as well as thoughtful.
On Long Live she drawls “I want to be rationally intimate with you” over hectic arpeggiated guitar.. beyond the near-Zappa levels of sonic artistry she is interested in expressing something of herself, and of the present moment’s obsession with the kaleidoscopic fractionated nature of the interpersonal, maturing under the scrutiny of expectant audiences (both personal and public) and coming into one’s powers as an artist.
On Good Circuit she intones “You’re not ready for the type of love I’ve got to give”. I really hope Australian music is ready for their next true genius, ‘cause Cosima Jaala is the real f*ckn deal.
- Kieran Ruffles.