MUSIC REVIEW: COSMO JARVIS - 'IS THE WORLD STRANGE OR AM I STRANGE?'

An Alternative World View From an Artist Who Demands & Defies Definition

By: Andrew Shaw

October 11, 2011

(25th Frame) “It's just best to forget me / Even if you like me, you still never met me” is the spoken sentiment flip-flopping over melodic title track "Is the World Strange or Am I Strange?" This album from Cosmo Jarvis is one of those rare creatures: self-aware, socially conscious, hyper-perceptive, resilient, but also vulnerable. Like the majority of lyrical content across the collection, there's an urgency toward definition and a pleasure in then twisting whatever is established.

Some may know Cosmo Jarvis from the notorious, controversial content of songs and self-directed accompanying videos to “Gay Pirates” and “Sure as Hell Not Jesus.” Both songs feature here, and both songs confront the hypocrisies, duplicities, and nonsense found in certain areas of the modern world. The best thing about the bold-face of these songs is that, for all of their posturing, they are from the heart of the artist. What some call contentious, Cosmo Jarvis simply treats with common sense. The burden of controversy lays with the unenlightened audience who shies away from issues that should actually be mundane. Gay marriage, a la "Gay Pirates," shouldn't be a hot-topic that stirs confrontation; it should be as established and boring as other stuff, like heterosexual marriage, cheese sandwiches, and woolen cardigans. If we cannot mock and condemn the sordid behaviors of church leaders a la "Sure As Hell Not Jesus" simply because they are faith-based individuals, what does that say about the world? Here, we would answer the titular question with: “If the world finds controversy or offense here, it is the world that is strange.”

Instrumentation is approached with a natural flare. Cosmo Jarvis is eager to have a stab at playing anything he can wrap his fingers or mouth around. He knows his way around some intricate finger-picking, but he also shows appreciation for the power of a well-hammered chord. Some tracks may be composed of no more than one or two chords; progressions may hover and go undeveloped, but they're played with genuine joy and energized abandon. One minute a mandolin gets thrashed within an inch of its life, the next minute recorders shape out an almost heavenly melody, simple and exquisite. Genres come together, breed, and bring unique children; their cross-pollination strengthens the blood-line rather than weakens with easy gimmicks. Moments of ska-ish guitar stab-bounce over more soulful bass-lines before that signature mandolin picks out a hook.

“Dave's House Album” is wealth of expression in terms of musical arrangement; all constituent parts come together and describe the abilities of involved musicians. Lyrically, a strangely layered, rapid-fire hypno-loop opens the plot. “What happens in Dave's house stays in Dave's house / What happens in Dave's house stays with me / What happens in Dave's house stays in Dave's house/ And if you tell your friends, they won't believe / What happens in Dave's house stays in Dave's house / What happens in Dave's house stays unknown / What happens in Dave's house stays in Dave's house / So now we have a place that we can go.” An unusual catalogue of nefarious areas being sought out for personal, adult, and consensual behaviors is then listed. It's not just that we feel overwhelmed by the repetitive device here; there's a genuine sense of claustrophobia simply by being around so much human desire. Passions get heightened and gain significance as attempts are made to conceal them. When normal pleasures give way for the abnormal, we all become a little strange. In this instance, yes, Cosmo Jarvis is maybe a little strange. But not really. Perhaps what makes this particular artist strange is his unwillingness to self-censor for global acceptance.

“My Day” lands with delicious abrasion. Delivered as a spitting document of previous misbehaviors, there is more shine here than pure Punk, but there is most definitely a horse-shoe in the glove -- a simple musical riff that pogoes in across the dance floor and contains more poetry than many of its contemporaries. Cosmo Jarvis can't help himself; such is his natural flare for nailing subject matter just by pouring the right kind of energy into a track, the detonation is expertly charged.

Special notice should be given to “Betty.” Sitting at almost 10 minutes long, accordions, angular guitars and barbed scales wrap wires around the tale of a working-class heroin and the object of the narrator's affection. “What's wrong with my sweet girl?” is a question asked since the advent of Pop music, but rarely with such sustained potency as this. Great stuff.

Is The World Strange or Am I Strange? is most definitely an acquired taste; you'll either get it or you won't. Things are balanced by shrewd depths of understanding. Serious things are treated with a lightness of touch, and light things are treated seriously. Everyday people and situations are elevated to the utmost interest; revered individuals are reduced to the size of their true human scale. The outlook is sometimes bleak, but it is always tempered with a sense of mutual inclusion; our differences are celebrated as being equally unusual. Just like Tom Waits or Elvis Costello -- both of whom blazed their own unique trails through the landscapes of their formative years -- here's an artist that is cutting forward with such energized strokes, you have to assume responsibility for your own failings if you can't keep up. If you consider the confrontation unnecessary, or if you think there should be more reverence for subjects that have previously had songwriters kneeling before them, you should perhaps ask yourself why you subscribe to such a strange process. You should perhaps ask yourself: “Is Cosmo Jarvis strange, or am I strange?"

Simply put: buy this album and you'll always remember what you were doing on the day you bought this album.

Standout Tracks: “Sure as Hell Not Jesus,” “Betty,” “Is The World Strange or Am I Strange?” "Let Me Out of My Head"

For Fans Of: Elvis Costello, Tom Waits