Less, as they say, is more. I’m not sure who “they” are, but I’m not about to argue with them on this point. It’s an approach that has guided and influenced the sound of this latest single from Jared Bond, “Wild Guess,” a gorgeously stripped-back piece that is beautifully unpolished, honestly raw-edged, and oozing with sonic authenticity.
It is pretty telling that in a world where recording technology and musical instrumentation has more to offer than at any time in history that an increasing number of artists are turning their back on the cheats and shortcuts, gimmicks and gizmos of the digital age and returning to the sort of music that would sound just as real, just as honest, just as awesome if busked on the street, jammed in the corner of a bar or performed in all it’s glory on stage.
Honesty is the name of the game here, not just musically, but reflected in the lyrics too, the sound of a singer merely commenting on the world around him in an ever-darkening, ever self-absorbed, ever fake time.
Not quite a return to the past, nothing as mundane as repackaging nostalgia, but “Wild Guess” does echo with the sound of the likes of Oberst, Father John Misty and perhaps even slightly of His Bobness. But it doesn’t just echo what has kept such icons’ music popular with successive generations of discerning music fans; it pulses with the same authority that made those artists so vibrant and special in the first place.
