After a more collaborative effort on the excellent 2011 full-length Tambourine with Popolice’s Marc Regueiro-McKelvie, Jess Cornelius builds everything from the ground up on Good Man. The glory and splendour of the chorus is anchored by a swell of tension and unease, particularly the relentless choral pulse built by layered vocal bursts. It’s a tremendous pop song, which makes some of the underlying acerbic production elements seem a little arbitrary. Maybe it is that restrained tension that generates those moments of brilliance. The dubstep-pacing of the chorus calls to mind Miley’s Wrecking Ball, but I’m standing on the edge of a slippery slope of an alternative-versus-mainstream pop argument so I’ll just pipe down right about now.
Teeth & Tongue : Good Man
