- Jerome Blazé is just a young fella, he made his first moves on the Sydney music scene when he was only sixteen, in 2015 I think. That makes him, now, a very fresh-faced twenty-year-old. You can tell he’s just bursting with young-person energy and enthusiasm, because it’s right there in his new EP (which is certainly not his first one - that was back in 2015). Open, A Home. is a complexly layered mixture of analogue and synthetic instruments, art-pop and jazz and classical influences, never burdened with experimental seriousness, at least, not more than it is lifted by cheery warmth, overflowing like a sunburst of sound.
I’ve spent way too much time trying to work out what Blazé’s work reminds me of, rather than doing what I should have and just revelling in its joyousness. In Australia, certainly, there’s not much like this: the bizarre pop fragments of Katie Dey? Twee old Architecture In Helsinki? The over-the-top euphoria of Hermitude? I dunno, but look elsewhere and you’ll hit close to the mark with the psychotic positivity of Dan Deacon, the breezy loops of Tycho or the classically tinged experimental pop of Kishi Bashi. I think there might even be a little of the complex joy of Sufjan Stevens in the repeated figures of Blazé’s crazy collages; the only thing it isn’t, I suppose, is blasé.
It really is unusual to hear something which is such a multi-layered fusion, trying to be pop song, beats and avant-garde musical pastiche and managing, tastefully, to be each one of those things, often at the same time. The confidence is almost unsettling. I suppose it’s no surprise then that Jerome knows he’s on a good thing here and, off a six-track EP, he’s released a string of singles, each one as enjoyable as the one before. UP, for instance, is exactly as enthusiastic as the title suggests and makes its point infectiously with a killer piano lick before dissolving into a lush layering of synth, vocals, strings and more. That’s clearly not enough, though: the outro features a sextet of sax, rolling lazily into the sky.
Comets (There’s So Much Good In You) starts at that same relaxed pace before perking things up with very trebly percussion. It then settling for something in the middle with a mid-tempo beat that lulls you into a pleasant daze which slowly, easily dissipates across the rest of the track.
Wild Faith makes similar moves in its intro before adding a wistful vocal refrain: “Why do I hesitate?” and more of those overlapping sax lines. The vocal returns: “Do I ask too much?” Hardly. I wouldn’t be surprised if the gently tip-toeing indie-pop of Monday or the glorious surge of brass swells and disjointed noises that is Fall appeared as singles either.
Open, A Home caught me off guard and has captivated me ever since. Really excellent work from Jerome Blazé, a name that’s likely to become a lot better known, quite soon.
- Chris Cobcroft.