Indie-alt-pop singer-songwriter and multi-istrumentalist Jamws shares the dreamy, breezy new single ‘How’s LA?’
Opening with giant, crunch delay soaked guitar chords under Jamws’ sparkling Falsetto lead vocals, the track quickly captures a light, summery tone marred with a subtle melancholy. As the track moves into the warming verse with a swelling synth pad loop, tight swaying drums and a bouncing bass line, the summery, nu-soul influence is bought to the fore. Jamws’ now half spoken vocals drip with and effortlessly cool sense of style before the infectiously catch chorus works its way round once more.
As the track builds the send verse is where the track truly begins to capture the heartfelt emotion and longing apparent through the lyricism, with a shiver inducing chord progression and yearning fragility in the vocal delivery. This hugely impactful shift serves to give the track a new lease of life, pulls your focus in for the final section of the track with a striking sense that Jamws means feels every word.
Speaking about the single, Jamws shares: “‘How’s LA? ‘ is a letter to my ex. She’s an actor and we broke up at a time in her career where things were really blowing up. I was daydreaming about what her life was like now and reckoning with not being part of it.
I like this one a lot because it feels like a stream of consciousness. I remember writing the loop and bass line for the verse to start with, and thinking ‘wow, this is feels really bare’.
I wanted to match that intimacy in the music with my voice and cut to the heart of what I was feeling. I didn’t want to think too much about being poetic or melody, I just wanted it to feel like you’re listening in to one side of a conversation, like a stream of consciousness. Being separated made me feel a lot of different emotions at once – like yearning, bitterness, love, nostalgia and mostly grief.”
A brilliant track showcasing intensely catchy melodies, lyrical depth and an emotional understanding, ‘How’s LA?’ is an excellent example of Jamws music, one of his best tracks to date.
Listen below:
