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by Pablo Conde, Buenos Aires, Argentina Check out the Encerrados Afuera Website
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IN ENGLISH I'm in theatre so I don't have to pay for a psychologist, you know... What a pleasure to come across discs such as this. This is a CD-R without a lot of pretension but with a lot of ambition, and of the healthy type. J. Mann is the alias that, for the moment, Jordan Mitchell is using, Canadian by birth, Spanish by adoption, after a world tour that could make one envious, and of the type of tour that provides some serious learning. The tireless globetrotter, Mitchell discovered Barcelona to be a good place to camp for a while, and formed a band called The Customers - next to two Argentines and a Catalonian - and when the band turned to a pile of good crumbs, he dedicated his career as a soloist with guitar in hand. Too Much Theatre is his fifth disk, populated with folk melodies of a low-fi spirit, with a playful voice, in which it seems he's having a good time, without the need to take care of the details, because for that there is an entire industry. Because the technical correction of vocals would remove him emotionality, yet it's something that populates all the disk, giving a sensation of coolness that many would kill for having. Though his music has little in common with East River Pipe, that of the band FM Cornog, the spirit of how he faces his career is very similar: self-production, self-sufficient compositions and, above all, thematically self-indulgent. J.Mann gives the same energy to sing to a dog that follows with a bark, as to a city that seems to be a film set, respecting the climates that each thing requires, of course. The disc is launched by Middle of the Road Records, Mitchell's label, and is a good motive to support the independent scene of Spain or maybe Canada? ... I loved This City Is a Movie Set, the theme that opens the disk (that you can download from his official website), but the second track, Pantleg, was the one that finally hooked me. It reminds me a little of a Crime & the City Solution song, as you can already empathize with this personal singer-songwriter. Because yes, friends, some songs they make us feel at home. And though -thank God- not all the songs of the disc remind you of something, there is a tremendous sensation of familiarity. That's worth a lot.
In few words: A nice disk that will not change your life, but one that does not seek to neither. To listen: With headphones in moments of emotional ups and downs. It recommended if you like: East River Pipe, Josh Rouse, Freedy Johnston, something of Syd Barrett. Víctor said: Too much theater? Too much theater? Sing him some Gardel, man!
Pablo Conde
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