SJD - I Wanna Be Foolish

I have been listening to SJD for over a decade now, and unlike many of the artists followed over the years, it has been easy to keep coming back to Sean Donnelly's music. I challenged myself to get inside why that might be the case, and came to the conclusion it was the balance of elements that keeps it working. No one element dominates. There is melody, texture, dynamics, textural dynamics, and lyrics that are, well basically not shit (which can sometimes be a problem with musicians' musicians). The lyrics are sometimes spectacular. ("Superman, You're Crying" is a favourite.) And there has been a continual reinvention of his sound. Evolutionary rather than revolutionary, although there have been some big leaps. For me the SJD experience has almost always has been a more introverted, more technical, more rewarding Neil Diamond-like experience. I am sure the parallels have been made at least once, and it really comes down to one thing, his voice is similar. I am not going to push that too far, as Sean's music is so much more than Mr Diamond's, but that is how it is experienced. "I Wanna Be Foolish" is off the new album "Saint John Divine" due out in March on vinyl, CD and digital through Roundtrip Mars with distribution through Universal NZ. The next radio single, "Helensville" is more than a pleasure, it is a sublime track. The album was recorded with a team that included James Duncan, Chris O'Connor, Sandy Mill, Mike Hall and Neil Finn. There are apparently other notables also...but I have no names at time of writing. Look out for the second single and video for "Little Pieces" due out in February. As for the very clever video for "I Wanna Be Foolish", this was directed by Greg Page of FishNClips. Has there ever been a bad SJD video?! I have provided some links below where you can find out more about SJD, or maybe buy into some of that back catalogue. Here's to the speedy appearance of the new album!

SJD links:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/SJD/12793501823
https://itunes.apple.com/nz/artist/sjd/id23879610
http://elasticwasteland.com/

FishNClips website:
http://www.fishnclips.com/

SJD - I Wanna Be Foolish