Hailing from Australia, albeit now based in London, Jess Chalker is a prolific artist, best known for her role fronting new-wave duo We Are The Brave. Something of a polymath, Jess has received acclaim for writing, vocals and production, the latter being a skill that is bought to bear on Hemispheres, Jess’ debut work as a solo artist. Backed by financial support from the Australia Council for the Arts (in itself no small plaudit) and working in collaboration with the Grammy-winning Rich Jacques, Jess poured the fears and frustrations of lockdown into a ten track album that draws on a range of influences from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to early U2, receiving considerable attention even before its release.
The album kicks off with the arpeggiated synth and digi-hand-clap percussion of Stupid Trick, a taut pop-rock track that straddles the gap between new wave, pop and even post-punk, coming across as a cross between Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Cure and, perhaps, a hint of Paula Cole (circa her time with Peter Gabriel). It’s pop music, but closer to the pop of the late eighties, when bands like Duran Duran would draw diverse elements into their music for the masses, ensuring their longevity as a result. The album takes a darker turn on Dance In The Rain, which draws on U2-esque guitar, pounding drums and hefty bass synths to provide a suitably epic backdrop for Jess’ multi-tracked vocals. It’s followed by the light-touch Secrets which could easily provide the opening credits to a teen drama, given its fast pace and easy vocal hook line. Better is the dynamic Lights, which hints at what might have happened had Kate Bush collaborated with Pink Floyd on Momentary Lapse of Reason. For some, the self-consciously synth drums (especially the Linn-style toms) can start to grate over time, but there’s no questioning Jess’ impassioned vocal performance and it’s nice to hear a record on the pop end of the spectrum that doesn’t overuse autotune within the production. The first half of the album concludes with recent single Don’t Fight It, a reflective piece of music that speaks to the experience of anyone who has travelled the world and found themselves outside of their own frame of reference.
A common theme in pop music, whether as a hopeful destination or as a representation of lost innocence, West Hollywood has a nostalgic air, as Jess sings of watching punk bands and trying to kickstart a career that still seemed a distant dream. The synth-pop of Cynical is a superficially simple song, although given greater depth by the deft use of reverb-drenched guitar. The heavily processed Hoops seems to breathe as different layers drift in and out of the mix, and it makes for a surprisingly addictive track, not least because it sits outside of pop convention in the way it favours the dynamic over the direct. The whimsical instrumentation of Cover Fire makes for a particularly interesting track, recalling Peter Gabriel’s commercial peak, and it says much of Jess’ ability that you could easily imagine the track sitting amidst the material on the ever-ambitious So. It makes for an album highlight and everything from the vocal performance to the production is pretty much perfect. Final track, Cathedrals loses the synths to deliver a strangely affecting rumination on what home truly is, and it’s all the more emotionally charged for the emphasis it places on Jess’ vocal. It provides the album with a gently cathartic conclusion and reminds the listener that, for all the production tricks on display, a very human heart remains beneath the gloss.
Hemispheres is probably not the sort of album that regular visitors to the site will enjoy, but for those who appreciate music at the more popular end of the spectrum, it is a very impressive body of work. Stepping away from the overly manufactured approach of what we might term ‘commercial pop’, Jess Chalker has crafted a strangely timeless collection of songs that draw on diverse influences and channel real emotions. Reference points abound, but perhaps include the likes of Peter Gabriel, Depeche Mode and Kate Bush at one end, and Paula Cole, Blondie and even The Cure at the other and it makes for an album that, while coherent, is nevertheless hard to pin down. 8/10
