Those that grew up in a world where the internet and social media didn’t exist, where you didn’t get to see someone’s life through their daily enhanced posts, where not everyone had a video camera and you had to dream of seeing more of the world with your own eyes, to those people, they will understand me when I say that Jeremy Gorman’s new album …Another Day takes me back to a warmer, more analog, time in music. A time where artists like The Beatles, Tom Petty, David Bowie, John Cougar Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen and the likes, created story driven songs that inspired us and showed us a little more of the world with every new song released, without having to spell it out for us to help gain more likes.
…Another Day is a beautifully warm album that deserves to be separated from the digital pack.
The pandemic has done something to the world, irreparable perhaps, and it has changed both the music industry and the artist themselves. Everywhere I look I see another musician only putting in half the effort required to complete an album, because where is the hope in the current music industry, in the world itself? I know, I know, this sounds deeply heavy for an album review, but that is the point I am trying to make here, this inspired new album by Jeremy Gorman is making me think, it’s making me feel, it’s making me aware of some things. It is doing what those albums of yesteryear have historically done for me, it is making me reflect on my journey ahead by reminding myself of the past.
I remember when I watched Goodwill Hunting for the first time, I thought to myself ‘There is no fucking way that movie was written by two young actors that had never written anything before.’ The amount of awareness of the human spirit found within that film could not have been penned by anyone less than forty. The amount of worldly knowledge weaved within every scene could only come from the mind of someone that had some real experience in the heavy topics found within. You can see how happy I was to discover that it was written by none other than William Goldman himself (now it all makes sense to me, I knew it). The fact is, Jeremy Gorman’s album could not be written by the hand of today’s youth, there is too much real-world and time passing insights found within, there is too much depth and story here, there is a real sense of a life’s journey being taken; and for me, it’s what captured my heart the most.
When you bring such diversity to an album that it can reach fans of Jazz, of classical, of Blues and of Rock, you undoubtably will end up accidentally polarizing your potential audience, therefore any dislikes, ultimately, act in ones favor. It can be considered proof that something was created from a true place of discovery, without any restrictions placed upon the project for the sake of future album sales. Although, I have no doubt that this album will find its place among a large group of listeners due to its high production value and sincerity.
There are a few songs from …Another Day that are far less covers and more reimagined versions of those songs, which ends up complimenting all the other varied songs found on the album. There are singles that, if you close your eyes, you can easily imagine them being played in a live pub venue, and for a moment you can remember back to when that was something we could all freely do.
…Another Day feels like an important album. It feels like it has been created to remind us of the passing of time, the hope to be found in even our darkest of times, and the power of gratitude. It acts as a window into a history of songwriting that can, at times, feel like it is getting buried beneath the digital skies.
