2018, Islington O2, four flights of stairs – justice would have made me fit. I wheezed out the question to Jargon, defibrillator in one hand, oxygen mask in the other: What was coming for the following year? More Verbal Delirium (never a disappointment)? But no, he would be working on his solo album. Will it sound like the band? Quite different, very much more me. Well he’s was right, though I will say, as per the rote, you can take the singer out of the band, but not all the band out of the singer. Jargon now sits in the esteemed company of Pat Sanders (Drifting Sun), and Gabriele Baldocci (The Gift) whose piano compositions are fantastic, all of them finding the right notes in the right places to wring that extra ounce of emotion from me (that’s easy – you soppy git!).
As the first key is depressed, I am lifted, lost in the next forty-five minutes of musical heaven. It is the purity of composition, nothing wasted, nothing more than necessary. With all the whistles and bells a studio may offer it seems less able to achieve it, not at times the music, but those spaces to breathe in between.
I have been blessed though as Chris, Jargon’s manager, has let me hear a couple of pieces through the past year, every piece was played several times over, and my excitement sent spiralling in anticipation again. Not unlike the first time I heard Firth of Fifth, when my spirit soared as to that which my ears were subject. You really can love the ethereal.
Lyrical or instrumental, it holds your attention. Plans are afoot for the album to be played later in the year with a small chamber orchestra, I personally would love to see it in the amphitheatre at Delphi, though I suppose there might be a fair representation of such a structure in Athens. On warm summers night with the only competition the wildlife. Ah, such dreams are made of this.
The instrumental The Film opens, the comparison I was given was that of Phillip Glass, though to me it reminds of the first hearing of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2. It’s ‘Wow!’, and one that lulls you to not expect the oncoming energy of In Search of the Invisible Thin Line, a tune that dances – flamenco, tango, combative dances, hints of Freddie M and Kate B. Real quality.
The Fading Thought lingers long after the fade, lyrically it seems Jargon is posing questions for us, or himself, or perhaps both! I do find with music and words that the slumbering beast of imagination is stirred. Jargon seems to observe as a modern-day philosopher, the instrumental interludes giving the breathing space for thought. It works so well, and though not played to death, was – and is – an album to return to. I know it will remain high in my personal 2020 chart, and in a year where circumstance has meant we have had time to reassess, it is almost perfect. It moves through the fair, increasingly towards but never copying the style of the home band…
Whereas in some, music or lyric will define the emotions being portrayed, with Jargon it is both, weaving around each theme and presented as one. In search of the invisible line, it does this so well, light mixing with dark and a descent into insanity.
Time is running out (maybe for humanity) but Jargon’s reflective lyric bodes well for his own. Albums with no weak spots are rare, but I am happy to contend that this is the case here. From first note to last, you are carried along by the melody, and though I could ramble on about How Can I? and The Last Temptation, you are best served by closing your eyes, dreaming of an Aegean voyage with The Fading Thought as your desert island disc.
Buy and encourage all formats to be released. As the man from L’Oréal would say, because it is worth it. Currently my favourite of 2020.
TRACK LISTING
01. The Film (5:33)
02. In Search of the Invisible Thin Line (4:53)
03. Dance of the Frame (2:38)
04. The Fading Thought (7:17)
05. Light (3:54)
06. Time is Running Out (6:54)
07. How Can I? (6:22)
08. The Last Temptation (7:10)
09. Window on the World (4:54)
Total Time – 49:35
MUSICIANS
Jargon – Vocals, Keyboards, Piano
Nikitas Kissonas – Guitars
Leonidas Petropoulos – Bass
Wil Bow – Drums
Kostas Karitzis – Violin
Stelios Papanastasis – Viola
Thodoris Mouzakitis – Violin
Aris Zervas – Cello
Lupe – Additional Vocals (on How Can I?)
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Independent
Country of Origin: Greece
Date of Release: 30th May 2020