Oscar Jerome artfully reimagines his poetry into reflective outing The Spoon
"The Spoon"
Back with his first offering in two years – since the release of his debut record Breathe Deep in 2020 – Oscar Jerome triumphantly returns with a transcendent 12 track project, glimmering with soul and experimental jazz sounds.
Created during a time of unified isolation, mid-pandemic, in Berlin, The Spoon offers a unique insight into the entanglements of the mind but in an exploration of finding the beauty within all its madness. Turning poetry into music, he shines light on the anxieties, depression, and injustices taking place right on our doorstep.
Sonically, the crisp contemporary jazz sound Jerome has curated alongside a team of esteemed musicians, combines the perfect blend of woodwind and percussion instrumentals with poetic, spoken word vocals. With striking flavours of Gil Scott-Heron and Jeff Beck, it is far from one dimensional. Although each song is individually strong in its own right, listening to it as a whole, cohesive project makes for a bold, immersive listening experience.
The Spoon takes the form of Jerome’s most creatively intricate project to date, through the introduction of characters, Jerry, and Ice Guycicle. With help from these personas, we are taken on a journey observing and reflecting on the cyclical nature to life and our emotions. Within this narrative-driven state Jerome has created, we gain consciousness of the world and people moving around us. This creative endeavour is experienced at its best through the visuals to standout tracks "Berlin 1" and "Sweet Isolation". We witness the character development of these two distinctly different individuals and the alternate ways they view the world, due to the way society has shaped them.
The concept of ‘reflection’ is an overarching motif throughout the entirety of the record. The title track, The Spoon, heavily plays into this idea with the lyricism of “I see your reflection in the spoon / it looks different.” In this scenario the term reflection has a duality to it. Whilst Oscar is observing the reflection of himself and others in his life on the spoon, not recognising who he sees, he is in turn forced to reflect on that image. This introspective notion considers that people are always change and inevitably will be perceived differently overtime. Further, the warped mirroring of a spoon symbolises this idea of things not always being as they seem, as we are neither one thing nor the other.
Ultimately, The Spoon is an instrumental gift from a remarkable talent, which offers a multidimensional study of contemporary jazz music today.
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