Spectreview: Jay Som – Anak Ko

-RED-

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“I will be your friend
Keep you safe instead
I’ll show you a special way
I don’t want to forget”

Melina Duterte hit the jackpot in her surprise signing to Matador after the self-release of her first album, and with the release of her debut for the label, 2017’s Everybody Works, she proved the signing wasn’t a fluke and joined the current pantheon of underground alt/indie heroes. Riding that high, she comes to us again with her third album under Jay Som, and while Anak Ko doesn’t hold the burning ambition that made her previous album so entertaining, it’s still an assured demonstration of her gifts as a songwriter. Its sound can be boiled down to its thoughtful cover art: chords drenched in sunset light and plum shadow, the sense throughout that Duterte is honing her craft instead of proving something. Technically she has little to prove anymore, and the songs she debuts here match that implied comfort level, especially on the album’s back half where slow, moody pondering (“Anak Ko”), simple road-trip ballads (“Nighttime Drive”) and smooth, syncopated jams (“Tenderness”) dominate the atmosphere. The simplest of pleasures lie in the familiarity of the sounds she works with, like the iconic “Two Princes”-cum-“Semi-Charmed Life” riffage of “Superbike” or the “post-punk-by-way-of-yacht-rock” coloring “Devotion,” but these aren’t simply homages; Duterte’s appreciation for those nostalgic sounds are built into stellar songs that would work outside of their recognizable parts. One shouldn’t come into Anak Ko expecting the kind of sonic overhaul that has become the hallmark of nearly every artist of her caliber, but Jay Som’s talents are still on full, reassuring display here.

Recommended for exploring unfamiliar beaches.