Favourite albums of 2008 part 6

Numero seis: Jerome Kugan - Songs For A Shadow



Jerome played for one of our shows in October which I missed as I was out of the country. Apparently, the rest of the guys were instant converts when they heard his soundcheck. That's pretty telling of his talents. Weiyuan insisted I listen to his new album which I did.

It's really great.

You can call the album a folktronica one; the tunes are generally acoustic songs embellished with minimal electronic flourishes. Jerome reminds me of Haykal in a way where both of them are poets first, then musicians though Haykal's lyrics are usually the stream-of-consciousness type where Jerome takes a storytelling approach at times. Of course, as with 50% of all KL indie releases, Adlin is involved; he plays electric guitar textures on 'This Excellent Love'.

And it's that voice as well. I'd be akin to call him Malaysia's Antony Hegarty. Well, which I just did. However, Jerome never over-emotes or becomes too melodramatic for the song, keeping it sweet and tender at times and sarcastic in others. Check out his songs (the full album) on his blog and the live performance of 'Tomas' below.