Jordan Everist: “Vacancy” – Beautiful, tranquil, and yet often pulsating
Jordan Everist is a creative from Portland, Oregon. His love of music began when he was 4, but really took off in his high school years. Since then he has been producing music professionally for short films, cartoons, and musicians. He also has had a series of personal projects, where he’s been able to express himself and develop his own voice. Besides music, Jordan has an interest in all things creative, which he shows through his other ventures, writing and animating cartoons, and developing video games.
Odds are if you’re reading this review, you’ve heard of Everist’s music before. If you haven’t, it’s your lucky day: you’ve just struck a hidden gold mine of music that will catch you off guard. The best part? Jordan Everist’s new album, “Vacancy”, is rich in instrumental gold infused with fragments of sparkling vocal gems.
So why do I know you’ll like this album? This isn’t an album where you skip some songs and repeat others unequally: you’ll love every track to the point where you will end up adding the whole album to your favorite playlist.
It’s the perfect soundtrack for driving, playing games, relaxing, or anything you can really think of doing while listening to music. Everist covers a whole lot of musical ground from vastly supersonic soundscapes covered with synthesized bliss and a hip-hop instrumental paradise, to incorporating organic and sample-filled chilled vibrations that take soulful turns towards low-key pop and ambient flavorings. You can’t help but ecstatically smile, as you listen to this multi-genre potpourri. Go ahead, you’ll see what I mean.
I’m trying not to reveal too much, because I don’t want to spoil your first undisturbed listen of this album, but just know this: Jordan Everist lands on the planet of chill and bliss and excitement that many other instrumental artists aspire to even find, and this record is your first-class ticket there.
Part of the excitement and interest is that there is always a hint of experimentation, or boundary pushing, present in each and every track. So even the most fleshed out tune sounds like its work-in-progress, ready to take yet another left turn. The other surprise is, of course, the fact that no two songs sound the same.
The dreaminess from the electronic sounds is matched with beautiful use of the sparse vocals and samples. I love this combo as it adds more groove and soul than some of the more ‘pure’ electronic music, which can also be colder and more austere.
The final fraction of “Indecisive” forges stunningly emotional vocals, while “Switching Lanes”, pretty much maintains a soulful groove throughout. However, it’s “Let Go” that is the first real standout with its ethereal vocals and magnetic head-nodding beat. And it gets even more soulful on “What We Do”, where the vocals fade tantalizingly in and out of the audio spectrum.
Beautiful, tranquil, and yet often pulsating, Jordan Everist’s reverberating sound elements intertwine with each other like paint being mixed on a palette until you can’t quite tell what color it is you are looking at.
This happens on another set of standouts like “Tired”, “The Ghost” and the title track, “Vacancy” – These tracks have a wonderful warmth about them with genuine emotion, and a positive energy that abounds. Electronic albums can sometimes sound sterile and emotionless, but that is not the case here by any means. Grab a cup of green tea and put this on and your mood will change.
