JBM - Not Even In July

Sometimes a film or a song can change your life.

It may sound trite, but that's exactly what happened to Jesse B. Marchant, the man behind the acronym JBM, who discovered himself as a singer-songwriter after covering Bruce Cockburn's "Love In A Dangerous Time" for the soundtrack of the film of the same name, in which he appeared as an actor.

Indeed, before that episode, the artistic career of Marchant – originally from Montreal and later relocated to Los Angeles – had unfolded exclusively in the film world, where he had appeared in various independent productions and had even worked as George Clooney's stand-in for a TV commercial.

After that film, Marchant left California for New York, where, with the help of a handful of other musicians and under the supervision of Henry Hirsch, he made "Not Even In July", the debut album of his second artistic life.

Equally indebted to classic songwriting (Dylan) and to the twilit intimism of Mark Kozelek, in his songs Marchant expresses, without hesitation, a fragile emotional involvement, finding its ideal vehicle precisely in stretched-out cadences and a soft, deeply evocative delivery.

To draw on some recent comparisons, interpretive parallels can be found in the contemplative lightness of someone like John Shannon, while the bare, enveloping atmospheres may recall the equally unhurried pace of certain songs by Rivulets.

Very little of the recurring alt-country roots, however, can be found in Marchant's music; it's no coincidence that he opens the album with a romantic instrumental built from a handful of acoustic notes backed by measured strings and the latent melancholy of a song played with the lightest touch, which already perfectly conveys the idea of a poetics filtered through memory and brushed with a spirit that is sorrowful yet serene at the same time.

Even when the tracks become (relatively) faster and more structured, there remains that sense of enchanted gentleness emanating from Marchant's voice, almost invariably set to a sweetly austere register, indifferent to the murkier crescendos found for instance in "July On The Sound" and "Friends For Fireworks", where melodies and romantic arrangements are layered over a foundation worthy of the inspired Jason Molina of "Lioness" or "Axxess & Ace".

The greater richness of elements achieved over the course of the album gradually shapes genuine ballads, revealing a remarkable versatility of songwriting and the Canadian artist's ability to feel at ease in contexts that differ from one another, at least in part. Yet it's clearly perceptible that his compositional range doesn't stray too far from the skeletal acoustic-guitar notes that define such touchingly sensitive tracks as "Cleo's Song", "Going Back Home" and the closing "Swallowing Daggers". Elsewhere, along the same lines, only a few extra elements are added (the piano of "Red October", the harmonica of "In A Different Time"), but the beating heart of Marchant's evocative songwriting lies entirely in the bare, at times still slightly unpolished sincerity found in his guitar playing and in his unshakeable performances.

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14/07/2009