Every now and again an artist seriously grabs you and you instantly get a powerful feeling you’re hearing something pretty special. Lace veil wearing, Icelandic multi-instrumentalist JFDR certainly has this effect, especially when you pop your headphones in for new release ‘Airborne‘.
The excitement only builds too. Music royalty Björk labels JFDR a “current big influence” on her music, whilst I also discovered recently De La Soul’s Maseo gave the project a significant nod when stopping by the studio, calling Airborne “dope” – high praise indeed.
I caught ‘White Sun‘, an earlier JFDR release whilst doing a regular trawl of Soundcloud just last month and was entirely captivated within her bubble. The hope then was more was to come and the bubble would grow to further galaxies. Thankfully just a matter of weeks later there was more to come, another track appeared….
So ‘Airborne‘ then, what’s this ever growing bubble of captivation I speak of and what makes JFDR so special. For me it’s the aura, the obscurity, the nature of which I’d assume would lure Björk into her magical coves without even hearing a wave of sound.
When it comes to the sound, it’s the minimalistic dynamics that excel. It’s a sum of three parts. Fragile piano loops, breathy vocals and drumming cut up into part loud live take, part programmed loop. Each cut up and delicately stiched together to give the track it’s jagged edge. It’s this that separates JFDR from the rest.
Her debut album is to be released on her own imprint White Sun Records this Spring and ‘Airborne‘ is the second track to be taken from it. Who knows what magic awaits when you turn the page to chapter three of JFDR, maybe an even bigger bubble of captivation? Who knows.
We Close Tonight 