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Written by Laura Hamlett Sunday, 28 May 2006 08:43

The melodies are tight, the grooves just right; these six songs are ones you will want to set on “repeat” until they’ve reached into every cranny of your being, filling you with their warmth and life.

 

I’ve been an indie snob for too long.

My first reaction upon playing newcomer Jonathan Cour’s A Motion Picture Scene EP was to dismiss it as pop. Trivial, trite, commonplace. The subject matter is your typical boy-wants-girl material; Cour’s voice, while appealing, isn’t initially strong or unique.

Aha. But listen more, and these songs, this voice, this trifle pop songs begin to expand exponentially. Doors are opened, landscapes spring up, windows peer out onto previously undiscovered worlds. This is pop music is the truest, realest sense of the word.

“Can you hear me?/No, of course you can’t/’cause I haven’t said a word just yet,” Cour tempts on the lead-in title track. Truly, it’s just a matter of time before the industry is speaking this young singer-songwriter’s name. The melodies are tight, the grooves just right; these six songs are ones you will want to set on “repeat” until they’ve reached into every cranny of your being, filling you with their warmth and life.

“Never Come Around” is more laidback, the perfect summer soundtrack song complete with soaring vocals and soothing melodies. Next up, “Softer” kicks things up a notch; it’s a gentle groove on which Cour concedes, “the taste of skin is in my mouth.” “Run Away” finds Cour reflecting on just what it is that draws him to a particular young lady, while “Easily Erased” shows him full of regret, wondering how he lost the girl. Musically, the arrangements are complex, confusing, intricate, and intriguing; for proof, slip on a pair of headphones and spin “When I Fall.”

Oh, and the live show? Well worth the price of admission, and then some. Cour culled the best of the St. Louis scene for his backing band (his harmonies with Grant Essig are shiver-inducing, believe me), and the result is nothing short of spectacular. www.jonathancour.com

 

Purchase downloads for this artist at our BurnLounge.