Jaysways is many things. An electronic producer. An illustrator. A graphic designer. He is essentially an amalgam of all the things a bearded millennial dreams of (minus the poisonous self-entitlement). There seems to be a burgeoning of young prodigious talent in Australia at the moment (Cln and Japanese Wallpaper). The new narrative (of artistic progression) goes the following way: produce ground-breaking EP at the age of 16, finish final high school examinations, produce soul-breaking LP at the age of 18, ascend to mount Olympus. I know right…I’ll just sit here and blow whorls of smoke through my wrinkled lips, as I wait for my impending quietus (I’m 23).
Seriously though, Jaysways’ most recent release Hologlyphs is the third of his upcoming debut LP Sentrient. The LP is made in collaboration with reesepushkin, and continues the story of a “lost android, dismantled and marooned in an underwater cave…struggling to come to terms with his identity and purpose”. It is quite appropriate that the album’s character is a dilapidated android, as Jaysways production sounds like two rusted metal beings, tangled and enfolded, one in the other. Hologlyphs begins with what sounds like the ailing spin of an old turbine. Cuts of breathy, digitised vocals echo almost-silent in the background, droplets dance on a naked window pane and a guitar reverberates, thick with pathos. Then his voice enters with this carefully pruned beat that clicks and tinkers like carefully crafted clockwork. The chaotic neatness of Jaysways’ musical production is reminiscent of Jai Paul and Inc. It is an excellent song, rich with sensuality and texture. So you should listen to it.
Finally, on his website Jaysways elusively gives us the following:
“My characters and creations are an expression of one world I live in and the emotions, experiences and thought that surrounds me. You can find my spirit haunting the airwaves, my voice in the music around you, my flesh on paper, my eyes mirrored by pixels on a screen, and sometimes, my physical body on the earth.”
Jaysways will be playing tonight at Brighton Up Bar in support Melbourne band Stonefox‘s surface EP tour. See him.