It has been a week for the esoteric with many an offbeat or downright obtuse album making its way to my ears. Jewel Scheme’s self-titled album should not really be classed as esoteric but it is also an album that doesn’t quite fit into one of the pigeonholes that fashion dictates for the music of today.
That said, there is much here that is here will sound so very familiar with the looped sonic signature of those eighties synth pop band often to the fore but this time infused with modern day discontinuity as if all the square pegs that Jewel Scheme tried would not fit snugly into any of the available round holes. This album, therefore, isn’t really revisited retro yet it also isn’t quite arty enough to be a side dish for the pretty people to enjoy with their soya cappuccino and, to provide additional intrigue, the lyrics have enough in the way of metaphorical musings to make you wonder if you have truly understood the meaning of what you have just heard. After all, it must mean more than you think it means. Or maybe not but, nonetheless, there is no danger of misidentifying the voice of Martin Henry and the part the adhesive power of his distinctive tones has in providing the poetic glue to hold it all together.
All is not what it seems or maybe it is. Jewel Scheme are the kind of band that don’t quite fit into conventional yet, somewhat confusingly, their album ends up being unconventional whilst sounding like it should be conventional. Despite, in consequence, being a little confused as to this band’s true intent, I feel that I should come up with a tag line for this album so here goes. How about a mystery tour looping through the forever of never?
Best song: “Democracy Amethyst”
Verdict: Synthetic complexity.