By Charlie Maybee
Contemporary R&B musician, actor, and filmmaker, Jason Victor Roberts (aka Jason Ivy), has teamed up with Shuba and Durand Bernarr for the lead single “Divided” off his upcoming debut album of the same name.
The amount of soul that pours from the musical composition is staggering and it’s grounded in the layered harmonies and polyphonies. The vocals feel otherworldly both in their virtuosic falsetto and in their ethereal, larger-than-life stature. As a gentle drum beat presses the song forward with a plucky guitar line, there is no doubt that this is a hit song yearning to be released.
Dynamically, there is so much sonic texture happening at any given moment that it’s hard to describe it with any singularity. The fluid nature of the vocals submerges the composition like oceanic waves, but it’s also very light and airy. Where the vocals are dense, the other instruments take a big step back as to leave plenty of space for them to swell and flow freely as they please.
As the first single of the upcoming album, there is a lot to love about the grand and gradual crescendo that “Divided” brings to the forefront. “I just want to know / How this is gonna go / Before we start the show” Ivy sings through the main hook as if to say “this is a test run of this material” which leaves us in wistful anticipation for the next official release. There is more to come, so be sure to subscribe and stay tuned for what’s next.
“Divided” is available on major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Find this and more great music on the Alchemical Records Multigenre Mixture playlist on Spotify.
Charlie Maybee is a dancer, musician, educator, and writer based in Charleston, South Carolina who currently teaches with the Dance Program at the College of Charleston. His primary work as an artist is with his performing collective, Polymath Performance Project, through which he makes interdisciplinary performance art that centers tap dance as the primary medium of expression and research. He also currently plays rhythm guitar for the Charleston-based punk band, Anergy, and releases music as a solo artist under the name Nox Eterna.
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Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
