If folk music at its best is about powerful narratives and indie music encapsulates musical accessibility, then this is indie-folk. If pop music is about the infectious and commercially aware, and lo-fi approaches result in the more nuanced and understated, then this is the best of both worlds. And if the musical past was built on more analog artistry and the future increasingly built around digital deftness, then “Profanity,” the new one from JK Jerome, sits in a very exciting present.
And whilst “Profanity” feels universal, relatable, and familiar, it comes from a very specific place: the challenges and recollections of the artist growing up in an impoverished ’90s single-parent family, and how those experiences have driven his need to create.
Blending busy, eclectic percussion with an acoustic heart, it is a song that ebbs and flows between the sort of singer-songwriter delicacy that fans of Damien Rice will recognize immediately and a chilled yet groove-infused electronic dance-scape. It is the sound of the modern, post-genre artist not only hopping, mixing, and merging genres, but also reminding us that genres are, largely, a thing of the past. At least they are if you want them to be.
As much a slice of social commentary as it is a gorgeous piece of adventurous indie, despite its sense of nostalgia, it is a song that speaks volumes about modern society, both then and now, and, sadly, perhaps for years to come.
