Downtown Records/Fontana North

By Johna Autencio

If your favourite genre of music is a mixture of pop, rock and classical, then you should anticipate the new album release of Jackrabbit from New York’s very own, San Fermin.  This will be the band’s second album after their self-titled release in 2013.

The band’s newest offering has 15 tracks featuring vocalists Allen Tate, a “talking-singer” and Charlene Kaye, taking centre stage. Throughout the album, Tate and Kaye alternate between songs, which made it difficult for me to keep track of what was playing. Since most of the album has Tate and Kaye switching back and forth, in the song Emily, Kaye would start singing out of nowhere, then disappear shortly after.

The same applies with the background music. The eight-piece band features piano/synth, trumpet, saxophone, violin, drums and guitar. Some songs start with one genre of music, then transition to another, all in one song. At times it works and balances, but other times it doesn’t.

However, Jackrabbit has some songs I enjoyed listening to. For example, the title track, which is song four. As soon as Jackrabbit started playing, I immediately liked the rhythm and beat of the music. As well, Philosopher has an interesting sound that drew me to it.

The orchestral interlude from track seven Ecstatic Thoughts has a more rock and jazzy sound. For some reason, it made me think of the Oscar-winning movie Whiplash.

Other than that, expect a variety of genres combined in one album. For some listeners, it could exceed to their expectations, but for others, it may seem too scattered and unbalanced. It’s all in a matter of the listener’s taste in music.

Jackrabbit will be released on April 21, 2015.