Ah, the sound of something that doesn’t quite sound like something you have heard before even if it sounds like it should. That’s “Bunnywood Babylon” by Jesika von Rabbit.
I’m staring at the cover and it is making me wonder what might shortly be caressing my ears. Something out of the ordinary perhaps or maybe just something eclectic. Or maybe something like a square peg in a round hole scenario. Well, sort of. I have a vague recollection of Jesika von Rabbit and the “dessert rock” sound but that memory was far from clear. Talking of clarity, “Bunnywood Babylon” is also far from the clinical precision of the manufactured pop song and, even though the robotic sequencer often intervenes in the songs on this album, the time frame that Jesika von Rabbit intends to occupy is never made clear. This isn’t pure guitar music or pure synthesiser worship with her voice often falling through the mix as if permanently in the search for your attention. That might sound like a trip yet it is nonetheless relevant when you consider how focused this album is. There are neither actual ramblings nor extended improvisations on show yet there is also no solid connection to the worship of the three minute pop song either. It’s that square peg in a round hole thing again.
Jesika von Rabbit is doing her own thing, “Bunnywood Babylon” seems another more personal than contrived for commercial gain and, even if her intent is not entirely clear, that artistic obscurity becomes a major part of this album’s appeal as what you hear the first time isn’t what you will hear on the tenth. How could, for example, “Year of The Tiger” find itself on the same album as “I Can’t Find Me”? That’s a question worthy of an answer and, like a voice lost in the reverb of the past, Jesika von Rabbit isn’t going to tell you just yet.
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