It is roughly 5:30 AM at the time of my finally getting down to writing this and the sun is just breaking over the horizon outside my window, and the Jodis song “Red Bough” from their album Black Curtain is just starting to hit its stride providing an apt soundtrack to my bleary eyed state (I have been up all night long due to my latest bout with insomnia); if I could turn a phrase that would adequately describe the sensation, I might be inclined to dub this work as just the perfect music for such a state because Black Curtain sounds absolutely perfect right now. The chiming guitars echo the early morning bird chirping and the vocals sounding like a monk or abbot announcing or intoning the morning prayers with reddened eyes to welcome the new day following a fervent late night devotional, and the other instrumentation brings the added effect of the increasing brightness or a warming heat on the skin; the manner in which “Red Bough” is arranged alternately reminds me of a gentle rainstorm, but in either case, the song is powerfully affecting.
Once Black Curtain finished that run through, I start it again paying close attention to the strange early morning affinity that the music seems to have in part maybe because the music does not feel rushed in any way seemingly with a preference to leisurely stroll along with the pace of early morning reveries; and one thing is readily apparent while listening to the album and that is no matter what their previous outfits and projects might be, Black Curtain shows Jodis to have a warmth and resonance that these three people’s previous outfits either completely lacked or only just hinted at in those musical forays. For the most part, this second Jodis album is a mellow affair (save for maybe the harsh intoning guitars in “Beggar’s Hand”) that showcases the tasteful drumming of Tim Wyskida, the guitars and ambient sound of James Plotkin, and the vocals and effects of Aaron Turner melding to offer some impressive performances across the album.
Do not misunderstand me because as any number of writings on the subject matter which I have written in the past can prove, I love a great deal of the music that these three adventurous musical journeyman; but Black Curtain shows a different sensibility in the music than their other interests and for that, I posit, Jodis is more than just a viable side project but a fully realized entity in it of itself. Once I get into listening to Black Curtain, it feels difficult in stopping the immersion into the six songs that it contains; the natural motion of hitting the play button over and over again just feels right, and whereas sometimes this might be attributed to some compulsion, in the case of this Jodis album, it is simply because I want to hear it again.
