Indie Music Album Reviews

JJ Smith - 28 Club

7/28/2022

JJ Smith

28 Club
self-released; 2022

4.0 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

JJ Smith is a musician from the Chicago area who recently released 28 Club. Smith mentions “If a genre had to be applied to this record I'd call it ‘hard folk’.” After four decades of being involved with music I have to admit I never heard of ‘hard folk’. It feels like an odd name to be honest because the songs felt atmospheric and cinematic to my ears.

“Still” is the opener and also one of the highlights. Smith sings in falsetto for some of this song while he’s strumming in the beginning. Orchestral strings come in and this element is the difference from a straightforward folk to something cinematic and broad. This style used to be a little more prevalent in the ’70s when you would have folk singers backed by a four-string quartet. I liked the singing on this song but the instrumental breaks were just as good. Lyrically, it’s fairly sparse but contains some memorable lines. Smith sings “I can’t let go / My restless mind won’t stay / Still.” This is a very solid opener which leads to a crescendo towards the end.

“Splint” is about a-minute-and-a-half and while pleasant and meditative in a way felt more like an early interlude. It revolves around inventive guitar parts. The first intimate moments come from the song “Every Time” which is also somber and pensive. There’s some steady guitar picking, dynamic vocals and lush orchestral strings. I loved the older country style that combines with the orchestration in the song. The first instrumental is warm but haunting and Smith knocks it out of the park in terms of the vocals and displays some range.

“Doorbell (Once I'm There)” is just guitar and vocals. The picking pattern is fast and technical but also quite hypnotic. Smith stays in a lower octave range and gives more of a melancholy type of quality.

The closing song “Should?” comes in around six-and-a-half minutes and starts with the most pensive sounding music on the EP. It’s also a bit haunting. The music is a slow burn but gets energized with additional guitar work, drums and bass. Once the lead guitar comes in there’s a bit of classic rock flavor in the spirit of a band like Pink Floyd. Towards the end the song rocks and you even get some distortion on the guitar as it heads towards the epic crescendo. The lyrics are poetic but there are some concrete lines as well. One of my favorites was “Don’t want to face it so just leave me. / Caught in a loop of coming undone.”

There’s a lot to appreciate about this release. The orchestration gave it some extra emotional layers which I thought was brilliantly done. Most importantly however was the rock solid performance and well crafted songs. Take a listen.