Jera
"Go!" CD
Self-released
Genres: alternative rock, mainstream
Jera
PO Box 1960
Dover NH
03821-1960
Dec 8 - 14 2003 |
I
can really identify with Jera. It's just something about their
music that makes it seem that the type of music that me, the Everyman,
would write.
Unfortunately, me, the Everyman, is a talentless hack whose only
musical difference from Jera is that I at least have the
modesty to admit that I can't create music.
Creation is the key word here, boys and girls, because what we hear
in Jera's Go! is some of the most uncreative stuff I've
heard in a while. And this comes after a day of being subjected to the
horrors of commercial radio. The material on Go! sounds recycled
straight from whatever alt-rock radio station hails from New Hampshire
(On closer note, the album liners credit 105.3 WSHK and 100.3 WHEB. Blame those stations.) The lyrics are
unsophisticated in their craft and devoid of any real, original
expression. I mean, haven't we all heard "So I write myself to
sleep/Because I'm afraid to tell you/how I feel" before? When the
band tries to add intelligent substance to their lyrics it comes in
meaningless, boring stanzas like "Too many Kings/These plastic
people/With their so called lives/Are eating me away". Any angsty
goth can just set their poetry to boring, borrowed tunes from whatever
the latest hit single is on 105.3 WSHK. What sets a good band apart
from Jera is meaning: meaning in the lyrics, meaning in the
music, meaning for the listener. I don't see how anybody could tell Jera
apart from any other homogenized rock band. This is what they make
Muzak for.
Perhaps the album's greatest travesty is what is undoubtedly their
attempt at their super-deep masterpiece, "The Penny." Our boys in Jera
clearly want to set this song apart, opening with ominous programmed
synth pads and exotic foreign-sounding Eastern strings and drums. It's
not dramatic when you know what's coming. The boys use simple, bland
symbolism to try to make their song 'deeper'. It is the epic saga of a
penny, a penny representing all of the hopes and dreams of the
narrator, which ends up getting lost, never to be found. But at this
point we don't care. It's happened to so many other bands in the past
that the schtick is starting to get a bit old. By the time the song
finally ends with a dramatic 'No' we are all shocked at how much one
single word can embody all of our thoughts about this album.
I'll give the boys a bit of credit, and perhaps not even a 0% for
plagiarism. The songs and lyrics do actually sound somewhat heartfelt.
The album is dedicated to Tom and Edie Leighton, most likely parents
of guitarist Gary - and songs like "Angel", with
lyrics about the band's 'angels of love', show the band sounding like
they mean it. Unfortunately, that still doesn't make a good song. Goth
poetry can be as angst-ridden as it wants; that still doesn't make it
any good. The same goes for Go!. Although the songs are
performed with decent technical ability, sounding nice and clean and
orderly, it still doesn't make up for the complete void where any
originality should be. Nickelback fans who can't afford the
exorbitant cost of arena concert tickets, rejoice! There's an
excellent clone here in Jera. Unfortunately, Jera are
still clones, and clones of an awful band as well.
51%
Engelbert K. Mutton [Vitals: 10 tracks, distributed by
CD Baby, released 2003] |