Album Review: Jordan Seven – 7

Orlando-based Jordan Seven is a contemporary artist claiming classic rock influences. And the music on 7 lines up with that assertion. His songwriting and arrangement is reminiscent of early David Bowie (circa The Man Who Sold the World), but with a lyrical worldview focused on current-day concerns. The album opens with “Every Moment,” a kind of statement of purpose wrapped in a catchy and earnest melodic framework. Seven plays all of the instruments on this self-produced effort, and the production values are clean, uncluttered and straightforward.

There’s pleasing variety across the ten tracks on the album. While on one level “Zephyr Girl” is a love song, there’s a philosophical, thinking-about-stuff attitude informing the song. Seven’s melodic sense leans into the hypnotic vibe, establishing a melody and then leaning heavily into it. His chord changes are rooted in traditional rock ‘n’ roll (which is to ay the blues), but there’s nothing retro about his songcraft.

And while Seven’s primary musical approach is haunting and hypnotic, he can rock out when he chooses to do so. “Solid Ground” has a stinging fuzz guitar figure at its center, with tribal (as in, mostly laying off the cymbals) percussion, and lyrics that focus on self-reliance and (again) big-picture ideas. Seven makes a virtue of a wide sonic palette where his guitars are concerned; each track has its own musical character, largely defined by the guitar sound, but the whole affair is neatly held together by his passionate yet accessible vocal style and his inward-looking lyrics.

Cool cover art, too.