With many years under his belt as a Montreal music scene stalwart, Jon Cohen decided it was time to
put his own name behind a project. Setting out with The Jon Cohen
Experimental, a band formed under his name with the help of a range of Montreal
talent, his second album Behold was released in the autumn of 2010.
Initially taking Behold out on the road with the full band, The Jon Cohen Experimental embarked on a relentless tour
schedule criss-crossing Canada. With a growing list of dates
appearing across Canada and into America, the decision was made to leave the
full band at home, and reinvent the sound as a one-piece thanks to a
selection of loopers and electronics.
The copy of Behold I
have playing here is, of course, the original album from late
2010, recorded with the full iteration of the Jon Cohen Experimental (and
friends). This is one of those bands I have trouble describing in a logical and
understandable way, as they cover a fairly wide array of sounds and influences you
can pick through, creating something comfortingly familiar yet wholly
new and interesting. To try and give it a shot anyway, start out with a laid back indie band, with lots of mellow guitar lines and bass. Add to that some very ethereal and trippy sounding vocals, then squeeze a light
layer of synths and a smattering of other instruments in to the mix, and you
have a pretty unique sound.
The album's namesake
Behold or opener Hold the Fire are probably the most conventional of the album,
sticking to a fairly traditional indie form and sound just with the addition of
Jon’s vocals to add that unique touch. From there you can delve off into tracks
such as Lucky Number Seven's swirling sounds and trippy feel, or the more
ballad-esque Don’t Be the Cloud.
This leads me to what
is really the point of reviewing a year-old album, which is the continuation of
the continent-traversing tour to lands anew here in the UK and Europe with a
string of dates for us to all get our teeth into… The tour starts out in
Blackpool on January the 19th, with notable Scottish stop offs on
January 23rd and 31st in Glasgow and February 1st
in Edinburgh and a whole range of dates elsewhere in Britain.
For full tourdates and
venues, music and the usual, check out The Jon Cohen Experimental site at www.thejcex.com or the usual array of
current favourite music networking sites.
DL
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