Jane.- Work It Out – Acoustic
“Acoustic music has a special charm. She soothes, warms and envelops, like the embrace of a loved one. -Jane.- shares his romantic mood and squeezes everything out of his vocals to reach your hearts. Very beautiful and deep work. (Automatically Translated with Google Translate)”
“Акустическая музыка обладает особым шармом. Она успокаивает, согревает и обволакивает, словно объятия любимого человека. -Jane.- делится своим романтическим настроением и выжимает из своего вокала всё, чтобы достучаться до ваших сердец. Очень красивая и глубокая работа.”
-Nagamag.com
An audience usually prioritizes ethnicity before considering music. That’s the rub for an artist like Jane.: how to express multicultural identity, while letting the music speak for itself?
During lockdown, he was forced to confront his interiority thru exploration of his spiritual center. For Jane., manifesting his spiritual rebirth while in isolation demanded a meditation on the ocean. Jane.’s journey moves upon waves, both within & without.
The first wave started as it should: guitar at the beach. This is exactly what he meditated on: his intuitive & sincere beginnings. The doubleness of this contemplation, the persona oriented nature of socials, a game that Jane. will not master, because mastery lies in manipulation, opposed to the ethos of the Jane. opus: genuine expression of the Self thru music. A return to the code of art, the very thing that hooked us all as kids.
Growing up 1/2 Indian, 1/4 black & 1/4 white in both America & India, how does one relate to their environment when it’s unsure of them? This is Jane.’s task, the personal expression of identity both within & without cultural context. It’s in this conflict that Jane. plays out the theater of his music; to belong, or to be the Other? No wonder the ocean is his muse.
Jane.’s music reaches the listener with disregard for optics. As long as the music finds you, as long as the ocean exists, there is always the potential to be moved, to be taken out to the sea of imagination upon a wave.
When discussing the “acoustic” version of It originally came to me on an acoustic guitar and was written completely in about 30 minutes. When I was making “What A Wonderful Time To Be Barely Alive” I was heavily experimenting with electronic instruments and programming drums and felt that arrangement was beautiful and fitting for the album. Though I am inspired and am proud of the album version, I have always had a love for the song in its original form and felt it was necessary to strip the song back to its bones and allow the story within the song to be heard.
Reviewed by Nagamag on June 1, 2022