Album Review: Oncle Jazz
Men I Trust’s Oncle Jazz, a highly anticipated album before it’s release in late 2019, further cemented Men I Trust’s reliability in creating and releasing consistently great tunes. As independent producers they started small and slowly picked up traction through singles that are absolute bops. They’ve created their own unmistakable sound that I can only do justice by emphasizing how unique it is. Oncle Jazz itself features a lot of singles from their comeup, as well as new indie slappers. Their stylish basslines put the “pop” in lo-fi pop sensations. It’s great for active listening, or to enjoy as background music while you relax. It fits all slow late nights. It’s warm with a cool breeze that I’ve come to crave. The light, airy vocals delivered by Emma Proulx float gently over the “in your face” basslines and guitars that aren’t afraid to fall into the background. Several of their songs feature literal ambience, but often they are ambience, not uncommon to hear in the lo-fi genre. The songs range from slow and trance-like, such as the classic “Show Me How”, “Something in Water”, and “Pierre”, to quicker and funkier songs, like “Say Can You Hear”, “Days Go By”, and “Slap Pie”. There’s a good mix of instrumentals to songs with lyrics, the former of which highlighting Drago Chiriac and Jessy Caron’s prowess as a multi-instrumentalist and bassist, respectively. It serves as a reminder that Men I Trust was a great band, even before Proulx’s vocals were even part of the picture.
This chonker of an album (seriously, 71 minutes of gold!) didn’t disappoint the hype train and in that, I can’t recommend it enough. I do find myself wishing slightly that this album did a bit more to explore new territory just to cement a bit more stylistic versatility (especially after being teased by the singles), but even after all that, it’s still simply a wonderful album that I find myself going back to, time and time again.
There’s a reason why this band has made a name for itself, and why it’s still brought up in indie/lo-fi pop talk to this day. It’s an 8.5/10 for me! Check them out on streaming services, like Spotify and Google Play Music, or lift a digital copy off their Bandcamp (it’s a name your price, so you can get it free, but I encourage support for the band, they deserve it!).