Jake & Abe – Finally!

I’ve seen drummer/percussionist Abraham Rounds several times this year during Meshell Ndegeocello‘s residency at the North Sea Jazz Festival. He is not only a pretty energetic and emotional percussionist, but a great singer too. Which he proved on several occasions, like the night Meshell was celebrating the music of Gary Bartz and Eugene McDaniels. I still vividly remember his performance of “Uhuru Sasa”, originally by Gary Bartz and his NTU Troop, recorded in 1971. The Australian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and composer released his first solo album “The Confidence To Make Mistakes” back in 2021. Two years later, Ropeadope Records released “Better”, which features Abe together with Larry Goldings and Kaveh Rastegar. Now residing in LA, he has written a lot of motion picture tunes as well. And he has worked with dozens of artists, from kd lang to Madeleine Peyroux, from Pino Palladino to José James. Together with pianist and vocalist Jake Sherman, with whom he put out several singles since 2019, he has now come up with “Finally!”, an album that was several years in the making.

And which has a totally unique and unparalleled sound. Which we love of course. We already featured the brilliant “Curbs” on Gina’s weekly playlists, but to hear the final album is another major treat. Jake & Abe have come up with ten (or rather 9, more on that later) fascinating soulful pieces, starting off with “Incognito Mode”, which has this really sympathetic quirkiness about it. The fizzy vocals and grandiose production work actually remind me of some of the stuff which Fleetwood Mac did for their 1979 groundbreaking “Tusk” album. I really dig the lyrics and the repetitiveness and of course the vocoder of “Give My Money Back”. The falsetto vocals on the 80s-induced “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” are just enhancing this incredibly catchy track which has some additional production and programming work by Julius Rodriguez. “Oh The Love Is Here” is this little love poem with some absolutely compelling guitar and percussion work throughout. “Curbs” still resonates in more ways than one, from its seemingly straightforward lyrics to the really lush instrumentation and production. I absolutely adore “Success” (“success should not define or change your feelings for me”), which could have come right out of the Jay Graydon bag of the early 80s. After about four minutes, the sheer bliss starts to unfold. It is both vulnerable and dramatic, enriched with strings and brass and just marvelous.

There is more absolutely astonishing stuff: “Stumbled” always leaves me wanting more of those totally thrilling and heavenly vocals towards the second half and ending of the song. The bass line is haunting. The falsetto vocals adding to the overall eerie sound of the tune. Ethereal vibes! And the breezy, airy “Stargon” is another winner. I just can’t find the right doorway to “Instrument Of Intimacy”. Maybe if I know the story behind it who knows. The album closes on a pretty wicked note with “Aussie Kiss”.

Jake & Abe can be seen opening for Michelle Ndegeocello while on tour through Europe. Check them out in Berlin on November 6th and 7th or at the Rockit Festival in Groningen on November 9th. Looking forward! Hope they’ll bring the vinyl!