Chicago’s hottest new thang JD McPherson makes NY debut
With an unaffected take on vital American music and a voice that channels the spirit of Little Richard and James Brown - JD McPherson offers his debut effort, Signs & Signifiers, released April 26th on the Chicago based label Hi-Style Records. JD brings his well deserved and highly touted sound to Brooklyn's Southpaw on August 5 where he will open for Nashville's DeRobert and The Half Truths (
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CHECK OUT INCREDIBLE VIDEO FOR "NORTHSIDE GAL" HERE!
Initial comparisons to Little Richard are not completely out of line, and when presented with the semblance, McPherson is quick to give kudos to Mr. Penniman and Mr. Brown, “Little Richard has one of the greatest recorded voices in Rock N' Roll, and James Brown's work in the sixties was beyond reproach.” JD also cites a number of other influences on his reason for being, including David Byrne, and Joe Strummer as well as having a large affinity for female crooners of the past, such as “Love Letters” vocalist Ketty Lester.
McPherson traveled from his home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma to record Signs & Signifiers in Hi-Style’s Chicago based studio. Hi-Style is home to a vanishing and now unique recording technique: 100% analog. The album’s twelve songs were recorded through a collection of vintage microphones into an old 1960’s Berlant ¼ inch tape machine, all under the watchful eye of bassist, producer and Hi-Style owner Jimmy Sutton. McPherson says, “I have recorded this style of music in the digital realm, and it just doesn't quite "sing" as much. Slamming that 1/4" tape really hard produced the most beautiful distortion I've ever heard.”
Signs & Signifiers kicks off with the fervent pulse of the first single, “North Side Gal”, before segueing into one of the albums two covers, McPherson’s take on “Country Boy”, an old R&B number originally written and recorded by Tiny Kennedy. “I liked the rhythm of the track, how it was very sparse and minimal. We wanted the musical track for this cover to mimic a loop, especially some of the abstract, out-of-tune loops that The Rza and Raekwon did in the mid-90s. I love the textures in that era of Hip Hop. We kept it basically bass and drums, with little sprinkles of piano and big, booming pulses of weird, reverb blues guitar.”
Two eras of JD’s record collection crash into each other on “Fire Bug”, a song that JD says he “wanted to sound as if Stiff Little Fingers had recorded at Del-Fi Records.” But it may be the album’s title track where JD comes into his own. “Recording "Signs” was when I knew that we had a lot more options available to us in terms of songwriting and arrangement. There are elements of Chess Records there, but with a nod to the Smiths' "How Soon is Now" droning guitar throughout. At nearly 5 minutes, it's the longest song I've ever recorded! It builds and builds, but avoids complexity. It's meditative.”
Signs & Signifiers’ authentic take on rock n’ roll and rhythm & blues gives a solid nod to the Atomic Age, but McPherson prefers not to be painted into a corner with a label, whether it be “retro”, “roots” or “rockabilly”. McPherson asks, “What is retro? Is Adele too retro? Is La Roux too retro? To me, Adele sounds like a product of her influences... as is the case with anybody else“, McPherson adds, “With the recurring interest in "soul" or even "R&B", there seems to be a line most artists won't cross - that line into the world of the swinging, visceral abandon of real Rock and Roll. The Pixies - in my opinion, the greatest band of the 90s - were hugely influenced by surf music, and through presenting it in a new way, breathed life into it and created some extremely exciting music. I hope to do the same with traditional, American Rock N' Roll.”
