Jesse Eplan – Dreams
Jesse Eplan’s dreams are coming true every day.
This young musical artist’s latest single “Dreams” promises that his live
performances will only increase, his recent television appearances will be
followed by more of the same, and talented potential collaborators will seek
him out to help elevate him even higher than before. Eplan, however, is gifted
enough that facilitating his own rise isn’t any issue. His latest self-produced
single “Dreams” has the stuff of greatness confined within its three minute running
time. Eplan is a multi-instrumentalist, so it might surprise some that he
contents himself with employing a variety of electronic instruments to realize
the song’s potential, but this is a completely modern artist informed by the
past, but never beholden to its templates. It is quite clear, furthermore, that
the nature of his instruments never restricts him from making credibly emotive
music.
“Dreams” begins sparsely, but comes together
quickly and lays down a meaningful groove that Eplan will ride, in one
variation or another, for the entirety of the track. The groove is centered on
the bass and percussion he adorns the track with. Neither are assertive in the
way that live musicians are, but manifesting assertiveness isn’t the mission
here. Eplan wants to conjure a contemplative, deliberate R&B backing and
this succeeds at doing so without ever allowing the theatrical nature of his
atmospherics become the whole story. He’s included a number of short, but
critically important, dips throughout each musical passage that gives the song
some added drama, but it hits its big peaks and valleys throughout and contains
some surprisingly rousing notes.
His vocal is thoughtful yet entertaining. The
wordplay is a bit advanced for typical songs in this genre, but never so much
so that it seems pretentious or Eplan has trouble managing his phrasing.
Everything rolls out of him with a smoothness of delivery that few, if any,
will find fault with. He also knows when to raise the bar on his vocal
intensity and those moments help to provide “Dreams” with some of its most
memorable moments. The lyrical content has an almost confessional,
singer/songwriter sensibility – Eplan certainly wants us to enjoy ourselves
listening to this song, but he also wants to share what his experience getting
his music out to the public and chasing stardom has been like for him. His
sense, popping up throughout the track, that even these first inklings of
commercial success can disappear as quickly as it came is an astonishing
admission from such a young talent, but it further illustrates how he’s cut
from a difficult cloth than a lot of artists working today.
Jesse Eplan is a major talent. He may have spent a
lot of time toiling in semi-obscurity with self-produced works appearing on
websites like SoundCloud, but he’s no longer pop music’s best kept secret on
the Internet. Instead, “Dreams” establishes him as an artist on the rise and
it’s certain that his future follow ups to this fantastic cut will only
continue to build on the success of this track.
Dale Butcher
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