Jon Cavier – January
Jon Cavier – January
Originally from Northern California, Cavier (pronounced “cav-AIR”) has been based in Phoenix, AZ for several years and up until recently was performing as Alan Clark in atmospheric pop duo EyeTalk. Over the course of ten years and five albums, this venture saw Cavier’s music reach audiences as far-flung as Italy, the UK, and Australia. After five albums and hundreds of shows played throughout the US, Jonathan Cavier has reimagined himself and has formed a new musical identity on his debut solo album entitled Premier.
In addition to his musical endeavors, Cavier is a semi-professional tennis player and a member of the USTA and IFT. Cavier says that practicing and playing in tournaments is like “the fountain of youth.” And “January” is the first single from Premier. But it’s not the best month for tennis, at least not outdoors. That’s a good thing because it has nothing to do with it, although it is very interesting that Johnathan Cavier plays tennis at any pro level and finds the time to be a musician in today’s busy world. It’s hard enough to survive as a musician without putting all of your time into it, but then Cavier has been around long enough to handle that, probably with ease, as this is not his first time around the block, it’s just his first solo CD. And with an opening single of this level of effort it’s no wonder he’s been down the alley a way. It shows in the right areas, so it’s all pretty positive to hear. The message is a hopeful one and the music is a lovely played ditty. I suppose it could be a stronger song but it depends on moods, as music always does. You’d have to be hard pressed to knock much going on here from this Phoenix-based Californian who I was expecting to have a country pop tone and glad it does not. Instead what you have here is a more Duran Duran type of influence you can tell is in the music and vocals. Whether or not that is evident in everything Cavier has done in his career is not the point. It’s written all over his sound, and that doesn’t hurt it where I come from. I just had to point it out because not only that, I hear other influences of the same kind of classic pop that was big on love songs, once upon a time. And that is a compliment to Cavier. What that means to the future and the new CD is up in their air, but it could bring a huge awareness to it. The guitar is refined and the rest of the instrumentation is all done with precision and grace, making for a very glossy sound. This allows him to fly over the background with an up-front singing performance that completely makes the single what it is, a killer pop track that begs for accessibility. It’s romantic without being trashy or too sexy, it’s also just rough enough to contain everything it needs. It’s a tad short but doesn’t exactly call for much more, as it times in without boring the listener. And that is pretty much the makings of a good song for a single release. Where it takes him is not as concerning to me as how good the whole disc will be, after hearing this many times over.
I hope it repeats itself well being surrounded by more of the same, but then I also hope a lot more variety awaits there. It’s a complete toss up, but one I’m willing to see how turns up when it comes out. As you never know just by hearing one track if the rest will come out as good or better, but this gives as much hope to that as it does for starting your life or anything else over in the sense that is sung in the lyrics to “January,” which I find to be a pretty solid piece of work from a good singer I wasn’t in the loop concerning. But I’m glad I am, because it has pulled my interest toward hearing “Premiere,” as well as getting this good taste of it.
M. Martin
CD BABY: https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jonathancavier
Score: 8/10