Jaz Elise’s New EP ‘The Golden Hour’: Album Review
Jamaican songbird Jaz Elise has debuted her new EP, The Golden Hour today through her label, In.Digg.Nation Collective in partnership with Six Course Music & RCA Records.
In joining the evolving and renewed Jamaican R&B sound movement, Jaz Elise unveiled a seven-track collection of fresh, reggae-infused soulful melodies, dripping in her magnificent syrupy undertones to set off serene and tranquil moods.
The new-gen artist shows us just how seamless it is for her to fuse genres to create her own music, merging soul, R&B, reggae, and hints of Dancehall into one transcending sound.
As for what the album means to her, Elise compares it to the one-hour moments, before sunset and after sunrise, coveted by photographers for producing ‘magical’ lighting.
“The feelings and emotions that manifest for me when I’m looking at the sky during the golden hour is how I feel when listening to this EP and I want people to feel when listening to this body of work,” she said. “To me it’s like this beautiful collection of feelings and moments. A mood, a meditation, a reflection and a vibe all in one. I have put my all in it. My dreams, my hopes, my feelings, my experiences, my vulnerabilities, my pain. Everything.”
Taking the time to traverse the stories, sway in the emotions and absorb the essence of her new EP, it’s clear Jaz Elise has a flair for spurring sultry moods and luring you in with ear-worming tunes.
The intro track, Elevated is a smooth Dancehall-style dispatch aimed at a time-wasting pursuer. She sees right through his dull repute and expresses her self-worth, “Bad gyal fully educated … Mommy never raise no fool”, she confidently asserts while humming some sweet serenading tones.
Good Over Evil follows, a Reggae-rock ballad of appreciation and gratefulness to God in guiding the path taken in life. She now sees accomplishments she hadn’t before, the rent and bills are paid, “nuttn in a owed” and will continue to put in the work- “I’m living the dream, I’m going hard towards the goal,” she promises.
The singles Radio, Straying and After 3, gets personal and delves into her love situationships.
Radio finds her simply basking in that neutral space she’s found with a significant other but wants to keep it low-key. Jaz says this one turns her on like the radio, “I’m feeling you”. Though, insists she’s the real type, “ Mi a nuh housewife or nuh chick pon di side, share man a nuh my style make me show you a vibe.”
Straying, on the other hand, opens the doors to a love affair that’s falling apart and that she wants desperately to restore. On a mid-tempo Reggae rhythm, she croons “I just want to love you and I want you to love me too,” on the hook while offering her resolves; a date night, trip to the beach, conversations by the river but relinquishes the possibilities to “wishful thinking.”
After 3, a collaboration with rising talent Mortimer is certainly a special insertion into the collection. It unwraps a deeper, saccharine siren quality of her vocals whilst emanating a soothing R&B vibe as she toils with a lover. Mortimer’s assist delivers an excellent synthesis, adding sensual touches with his tender drifts.
Breathe is just as infectious exuding easy jazzy and Spanish feels, which lay the baseline for the natural, warm yet sweet essence of her vocal tones. You almost forget what she’s saying but what she really wants is to take her mind off all the burdens in her life and just breathe.
The buoyant single, Fresh & Clean that features Dancehall dynamite Govana, ushers in smooth, crisp singing by Elise to lay out what it means to be fresh and clean. That’s simply the state of being ‘blessed and free’ – “Keep yuh mind right, mediate for good measure, read psalms a day to chase away the devil, keep yuh heart clean so your days can be better, you have to live honorable, you have to be a go-getter if you want to take it to another level,” she verses.
Govana may have kept things a little more money-oriented however, pointing to his “Louis V shoes, well dress suit, well press bad shirt” but warns “clean clothes nuh work wid dutty heart.”
Jaz Elise has bared a beautiful collection in her new EP. The entire compilation covering her writing, the songs, and her delivery on them is truly reminiscent of impressions felt with The Golden Hour. Yet she inserts compelling narratives to scenario confidence, inspiration, love, and gratitude – a few vital essentials in life.
Stream The Golden Hour EP below.