Jay Som: Anak Ko (180g, Colored Vinyl) Vinyl LP

Jay Som is an LA-based bedroom-pop singer, songrwiter, and producer. The daughter of Filipino immigrants, she cites her parents’ background and cultural customs as a critical influence on her work. She played the trumpet and the guitar as a kid, and began recording music at age 12. She intended to join a Jazz conservatory program, but chose to focus on her own songwriting, self-releasing music under the name Jay Som, which was created by a Wu Tang name generator and means “Victory Moon”. She has been compared to artists as disparate as Mount Eerie and Carly Rae Jepsen, she claims vocal influence from Yo La Tengo and her personal experiences with Karaoke. Anak Ko means “My Child” in Tagalog and remains a very personal, self-directed release, but for the first time, her process includes collaborations with outside artists including Chastity Belt’s Annie Truscott and Vagabon’s Laetitia Tamko. Anak Ko is more relaxed than 2017’s Everybody Works, her compact post-genre compositions given much more room to stretch out. “If You Want It” starts the disc off with twangy bass, clean drums, and hazy, lingering vocals. The intro to “Superbike” interpolates the chords to Third Eye Blind’s “Semi-Charmed Life”, leading the way to a dense din of sounds cut through by hazy, My Bloody Valentine-esque vocals. “Tenderness” is a definite highlight, Casio preset beatbox and breezy chords set the stage for a dramatically swelling chorus with thick bass, drumrolls, and doubled chords. This record is pressed on 180 gram red vinyl with an orange and pink splatter, and is packaged in a gatefold sleeve. 

• 180g red with orange and pink splatter vinyl pressing
• gatefold sleeve
• digital download included
• limited edition
• music label: Polyvinyl 2019

reviewed by LAZY-ASSED MADMAN (?) 07/2019

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