Last month we wrote a short preview of Free All Day, the latest album by Vancouver, British Columbia-based songwriter Ross Jenkins. “Spacious first single ‘Music is Sweet’ showed both the sharp writing and easy-going confidence which informs the new album,” we wrote, “and latest track ‘Small Houses’ not only doubles down but opens up new avenues too with a subtle mysticism.” The singles indicated the continuation of Jenkins’s evolution, his style rising from the lo-fi beginnings of debut Green EP through 2020’s spacious and evocative soundtrack Transmissions: Music from A Gleaming, each release finding new technical and emotional depth.
Only time will tell whether Free All Day is the full realisation of the Ross Jenkins sound, but the addition of Ryan Jewell (drums, percussion) and Barry Walker Jr. (pedal steel guitar) is a significant step. A way to combine the folk style of Green and the detailed craft shown within Transmissions without losing the intimacy and sincerity of the DIY aesthetic that made the former so arresting. Each song feels fully realised, with a sense of restraint and quiet grace that’s reminiscent of the solo records of Canadian songwriting heavyweights Bry Webb and John K. Samson Ultimately, as we described in the preview, these are Jenkins’s “richest, most considered songs to date.”
The subtlety of the instrumentation plays a big role. From opener ‘Unfinished Things’, it becomes clear that each element is played with a careful hand. Soft acoustic guitars, brushed drums, a languid patience teetering between relaxed and moody. A quasi-retro sound cast umber by the warmth of the room yet possessing some otherworldly essence too. Think Joni Mitchell at her mystical early seventies stage, or Damien Jurado and his modest cosmic hues, where every transportive flourish is nevertheless rooted in the genuine earnestness of the delivery. Something captured in the title track’s slow dawning ambience, the vocals spoken plain and honest and left suspended within this encompassing sound.
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Free All Day is out now and you can get it from the Ross Jenkins Bandcamp page.
Cover art by Lily Snowden-Fine