Jasper – 2022 EP

 

 

Jasper – 2022 EP
Self released – 2022
Rock, Stoner, Alternative, Psych, Noise
Rated: ****

Jasper, is the brainchild of drummer Jonathan Bontet, who previously rocked out with psychedelic mastodon The Psychologist & His Medicine Band, stoner-comics Sex & Dollars, fusion-alike Bad Billy, triple-female-lead The Fucking Butterflies, punk-crusters Daily Mind Distortion and Severe Gouine, 8bit-electro hero Janski Beeeats, Jazz manouche electro bastards Les Voleurs de Swing and stoner wallabies Les Princes du Rock, among many others... To be honest, I don't know any of those bands,  and most of what you just read comes straight out of an email one Manuel Dabouis sent me. Sir. Bontet recruited him when he needed to record his songs, and this Manuel Dabouis is now responsible for guitars and noises on the six tracks of this 2022 EP by the Jasper quartet. They hail from Tours, France and make some pretty taste alternative stoner. They implore influences from noise, psych and even some worldly or tribal touches. And the result is a product of, for me, unknown giants, for whom music is the oxygen they need. The music is what gives them their kicks, their much-needed adrenaline and the reason keep their heart beating the right kind of tempo. Opener Meet It, very slowly builds up to a punky, garage kind of stoner rock explosion before gently sliding into a percussion driven middle part and then erupting again. A proper introduction to what Jasper is all about; lot of percussion, lots of punk energy, kicking the trashcan momentum, and with so many layers and extra dimensions, it does not give off the air of being primitive or primal, there’s control here, there’s stamina, Jasper can get every job done. Following track Unleash is stunning in its simplicity and honesty. But third nine-minute-long battleship song Cold Stone will throw you for a loop with the wild story it portrays and all the different personalities it goes through. There are big, huge, grandiose moments, fleeting and slow babbling stanzas, there are razor-sharp edges, and incredible fierceness, hugely potent hooks, and thrilling rhythm patterns. Fourth track By The River, you will be howling along like a mad wolf! For sure, it’s as wild as any seventies freak out you ever heard. And then there’s The Constant Noise Of My Beating Heart, a track that, after the build-up, eventually makes the guitar sounds as thick as a steel cable ready to behead you, drums to punch a hole in your guts and vocals to make you run faster, stretch your arms out farther and grab for that golden thread that seems to stitch all of Jasper’s songs together. They end it with The More I Drink, The Less I Lie, a proper punk send off, that will make you long for dark and twisted nights, in much too crowded, completely smoked out, drinking holes, stagediving from the bar and waking up in the gutter beside your house… You almost made it… 

(Written by JK)

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