Album Details

• Artist: Jasper X
• Album: Cameras And Paragons
• Label: N/A
• Year of Release: 2013
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: carlita on 2013-01-30

Media

Reading the concept behind Cameras and Paragons which follows the rise and fall of a couple faced with a potential future apocalypse was way more than enough to spark my intrigue in Jasper X. In the 90's gloomy grunge/rock realm, the album, available free on the JasperX website, develops characters that stand united against the onslaught you identify with and opens with doom-filled "F Train" heading to potential oblivion which ensures I will never look at the F train, which I take frequently when I am in NY, the same way again. 80's Depeche Mode-like "Carrie" (no, not Sissy Spacek) has an addicting quality and continues in the tradition of the era's memorable girl-titled songs and conjures up vivid imagery with lyrics like "there were bombs and guns and people who danced in the street light". "Invert La Revolution" which opens with a great guitar riff and discusses "big brother" chips affecting emotions, scanning eyes and the masses being under the control of a despotic power up above.

I found myself returning often to one of the album's highlights, "Exit 9" featuring Beatrice Nodari (check out the video) which leads listeners "into a vacuum", continuing the theme of being watched 24-7, with a frantic 80's danceable tempo (should we bring back high collars and Flock of Seagulls haircuts?) similar to The Police's "Don't Stand So Close To Me". Towards the end of the album, in songs like "Helsinki", you can hear the deterioration of the central relationship with a "never-ending goodbye", where the listener might imagine them parting ways and roaming foreign barren, destroyed lands alone. In a world where we, as multiple electronics users, willingly give another party control of our personal pictures, documents and info via iCloud or backup programs, Cameras and Paragons definitely makes you think twice before hitting that "Send" button.

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