The ten tracks on Jade Imagine’s second record explore the notion of connection –to self, nature and others – which we now realise is absolutely everything.
Opener ‘I Guess We’ll Just Wait’, with its mellow pace and gleaming guitar parts, gives us ‘Mind Games’ by John Lennon vibes.
Built around a sample created with piano and digital percussion, this album’s standout title track features an ominous undercurrent and striking industrial beats that Björk would surely covet. Then the chorus struts in, all shiny pop perfection, and sounds like a different song entirely! Band founder Jade McInally wrote ‘Cold Memory’ – Jade Imagine’s best work yet – after a mid-winter ocean swim with mates (brrrrrrrr!) in Killarney, a coastal town in Victoria.
Ever thought of someone moments before receiving a text from them? “Is my mind playing tricks on me?/ Are we connected in ways we cannot see?” – Jade Imagine’s latest, art-pop single, ‘Instinct That I Wanna Know’, is an ode to ESP during which McInally’s dreamy vocals float atop boppy, danceable instrumentation.
Elsewhere, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink percussion infuses ‘Back And Forth’; subtle whistling and the purity of McInally’s pipes enhance ‘Home’; and Tim Harvey joins McInally for some swoon-worthy unison vocals in the last coupla minutes of ‘Down To Us’: “Hoooooold on/ While I get to know you better/ It’s taken so long/ And it all comes down to us.”
Label: Milk! Records
Release date: 21 October
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