Jason (El Fresh) McElfresh is the one-man band behind Lost In January. McElfresh has played in bands since college, mainly contributing on bass. Around 2019, he moved to Minneapolis, MN, where he started playing in a punk band called 2003ub313. Sadly, they disbanded once the pandemic hit. That was when McElfresh decided to start Lost In January, a project where he could flesh out all his ideas. On his self-titled recording Lost In January, which is a purely instrumental album, McElfresh includes grunge, prog rock, with hints of shoegaze garage rock. Altogether the sounds that come across sound very ambient and moody.
Lost In January begins with “Droneski,” where some programmed drums comes in alongside a wave of guitars that sounded energetic. There’s some bass and keys in the mixture. At the same time, the sound that comes across is very busy. I was immediately getting some grunge and prog rock in the mixture. Even though this is a one-man band, I can tell that McElfresh is having a great time jamming out here. Some synthetic strings also add to the ambience of the track. Reverb-drenched guitars come here for a wall-to-wall sound on “Bendy.” I was definitely getting some prog rock here. The sound just builds into a meandering vibe. I thought the rock-filled sounds were solid. There was something psychedelic about the sounds as I was getting some garage rock vibes as well. On “Spin,” more ambient guitars come. The sparseness of the guitars pointed to a stripped back sound. Next, the artist layers in more instrumentals for a more full-on undertaking. The sounds felt very revved and energetic. On “7:08,” some sizzling percussion and drumming beat sends out a very metal and hard rock sound. The vibes definitely felt heavier as McElfresh goes all out. I was getting some grunge and metal-inspired rock vibes. Some moody keys come through here to great effect on "Space Jazz." I was getting some immediate psychedelic jazz here. With tons of mood and feeling comes this moving closer from the artist. As far as instrumental albums go, I think what the artist has here works. Even without the vocals aspect, McElfresh manages to pull an impactful punch with just instrumentals. McElfresh plays everything himself from the guitar, bass, keys and drum machines and I think he does a good job. For now, it’s just McElfresh, but he says he’s currently looking for people to join him on the project, which I think is a great idea. Having a live drummer would definitely enhance the sound he is going for. With that being said, I think McElfresh shows a whole lot of potential and I look forward to seeing more from him soon!
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