New CD from indie pop grows on you with lush layers of disco revival

When Jets Overhead released their new CD “Boredom and Joy” it felt like more boredom than joy.

This week the band released a decent video and it the time seems right to let you know the CD is not boring. The beat and falsetto harmonies move the CD towards disco revival at some points.

Jets Overhead – Boredom and Joy

There was no video on release and the CD graphic was a flat pink cover.

Where was a picture of the band, especially the photogenic Antonia Freybe-Smith?

Nowhere, just the flat pink cover that kept showing up on their promotions and YouTube.

I’m sure the pink cover was meant to be different – too different for me. It put me off the music

Jets Overhead – photo Canvas Media, Stephanie Hull

Having said that, I enjoy the CD with its carefully crafted music and vocal harmonies.

Jets Overhead who hail from Victoria BC, got Warner to spring for 6 weeks of recording in New York for their 3rd album and it shows. The production values are a step up from “No Nations”. The vocals are properly placed in the mix with the backing where it should be. The drums are especially well recorded with clear definition of the ride and crash cymbals. You can hear rim shots that sound like rim shots.

The songs are indie pop and some reviewers called the album boring or bland.  It’s not in your face rock like Foo Fighters or the cotton candy pop of Katy Perry.  The CD has been in my rotation for over a month and I look forward to hearing it.

Disco-Revival?

A fan video of “Love Got in the Way” humorously positions the song clearly as disco revival. That suits Jets Overhead who fit the style of the late 1970s. The Bee Gees reference is right on.

Sometimes its hard to tell which of the husband and wife team of Adam Kittredge and Antonia Freybe-Smith is handling the high singing. Watching the Global TV life performance of “Boredom and Joy” helps to clear up any confusion.

Jets Overhead has been on the forefront of using social media to get their music to fans. They were using the “pay what you want” model before most artists. They would like fans to buy the CD or MP3s but still posted all the songs on YouTube for fans.

That’s smart since more than 60% of young people get their new music from YouTube. Neilson Music 360 reported,

“Among all adults, radio remains the most popular tool, with 48 percent saying that’s how they usually discover their new jams. But more teens, 64 percent, cited YouTube, the Web’s leading video-sharing site, as a place where they listen to music. Followed by radio (56%), iTunes (53% ) and CDs (50%). The popularity of YouTube is dramatically higher among teens than all adults. Only 7 percent of all respondents said they discover music most frequently through the site.” (TechDirt)

Follow Jets Overhead on Facebook. Available from iTunes, Amazon.com and digital download from the Jets Overhead website.

Download of the CD for review purposes provided by the publicist.

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