No Frills Reviews

Classic jazz balladeering is infused with a series of more contemporary influences to create a powerful and inventive experimental pop album

Boston-based artist, Justine Bowe has a slew of previous credits to her name, including as a member of mid-2010’s electro-pop outfit, Magic Man, and more recently as one half of hex gf, who released their debut album last year. After making releases for almost a decade under the Photocomfort moniker, Patron Saint sees her make a belated full-length solo debut.

Its acts as a subtly stripped-back showcase for her vocal, instrumental, and production talents. A series of gentle piano ballads lay the album’s foundation, providing the backdrop which allows her voice to take centre stage. From an almost conversational, breathy whisper, she builds to rousing hooks in a powerful falsetto. It’s intimately atmospheric; you can hear piano and vocal notes hang in the air and gradually absorb the room around them, evoking images of a 50’s jazz chanteuse.

There’s an accompaniment of playfully experimental touches; like the glitchy electronic loop that emerges to knock the opening track off-kilter, or how Close to the Sun briefly morphs into De La-esque psych-rap for the feature of Cliff Notez. These flourishes add a contemporary feel to the classic foundation. There’s a hint of nostalgia but it’s also forward-thinking, which seems fitting for songs which pay tribute to Bowe’s friends and their pursuit of artistic dreams.

But the real standout moments come when Bowe breaks from her primary formula. The excellent lead single, Roll, builds on a light drum beat and a few strategically placed synth notes to develop into a euphoric indie-pop anthem. And on Let It Ride, she fuses two disparate elements and lets loose for a country-tinged electro-pop joyride.

The album is slightly let down by its sequencing, with the jazz meets dream-pop of Party, feeling like a dramatic finale around the half-hour mark. So the placement of the two most sparse tracks after this leaves the closing moments feeling slightly anti-climactic by comparison. Albeit they provide the album’s greatest shows of bare-bones emotional vulnerability.

Patron Saint carries an air of grandeur, yet is deceptively minimalistic; a testament to how Bowe has constructed these songs to feel much bigger than the sum of their parts. An accomplished album which places one foot in the past, while the other steps towards the future.

Best tunes: Roll, Let It Ride, Party

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Purchase Patron Saint and find more from Photocomfort via Bandcamp

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