Jose Israel is an alternative rock artist based in Chicago. His debut single '9/13 in Chicago,”released this past March is on his self-titled three-song EP Jose Israel. As a person currently living in Chicago I appreciated his tip of the hat to the city with its warts and all.
The EP starts with the single “9/13 in chicago” and for the most part revolves around guitar and vocals. There’s a good amount of reverb on the guitar which makes it sound like it is being performed in a hall. The guitar work is solid with one guitar sticking to strumming while the other provides occasional lead like flourishes. I thought the vocals were very well done. There’s basically two lead vocals most of the time although one of the vocals provides soothing “oohhs’ and “aaahhs.” It’s very well done and felt like there was plenty of space in the song. The song seems to be about confusion and not knowing exactly where you stand in the world. Israel sings “im in limbo I can't help but ask the time where is my mind second guessing castles buried in the sand it never ends” “we exist b4” is next and this is sort of a relaxing and chill song. The guitars still have a good amount of reverb on them with the lead also containing a little bit of delay. Although the song is only composed of a couple of guitars it’s fairly dynamic. The song seems to be about similar themes as Israel sings “desperately searching / for what? I don’t know / maybe I did up until it snowed / futures bleakest when the stratosphere takes me here we now have the authority to reach all of Chicago.” There again are two vocals which are basically both lead but sung in different ways. “untitled (scott pilgrim song)” contains some percussion instruments. It sounds like brush work which lies against the guitars. It might be the catchiest song of the three. For whatever reason I was picturing myself hanging out on the beach relaxing and drinking a beer. "what?" contains some of the best guitar work on the EP and would even say that some this might be the highlight. The vocals melodies stuck with long after the song was over. The whole EP is just a little over eleven minutes long and is fairly lo-fi. That being said, the spirit of the music comes through. Israel is off to a solid start and has the fundamentals down. Perhaps even more encouraging is that he is forming a signature sound. This is a solid start and I look forward to hearing more in the not too distant future.
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