Blake Mills
Jelly Road


4.0
excellent

Review

by doofy USER (25 Reviews)
July 20th, 2023 | 20 replies


Release Date: 07/14/2023 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Making steady progress on shaky ground

If the last Blake Mills album ‘Mutable Set’ was somewhat evasive and hard to get a precise handle on then ‘Jelly Road’ is even more so. In many ways Mills reminds me of Cass McCombs; both started out as alt country and then moved towards a faintly retro and sometimes psychedelic sound that’s hard to pigeonhole. Similar unhurried and ‘foggy’ arrangements abound, usually matched with cryptic and unconventional lyrics. With Mills you’d say his approach is more focused on the instrumental side, with perfectionist production and some standout guitar work, while McCombs places a little more emphasis on his singing and lyrics. There’s not much in it though, the overlap in styles is huge.

What sets (pun intended) ‘Jelly Road’ apart (and also ends up being the feather in its cap) is that this release is for all intents and purposes a full on collaboration effort, with Chris Weisman providing exquisite jazz textures, mostly via various woodwind instruments. These additions give the album a distinctive mood, a somewhat surreal and otherworldly feel, and early on in the track list it’s Weismann’s influence that comes close to stealing the show - especially on the woozy opener and the ‘close to jazz’ coda of the title track. When Mills finally let’s rip on his guitar half way through track four, the otherwise patient ‘Skeleton is Walking’, it almost feels like he’s reasserting his position on the album.

So all things considered ‘Jelly Road’ has to be rated as another successful exploration for Mills, and really the only thing that holds it back when compared to ‘Mutable Set’ is not boasting a song as strong as ‘Vanishing Twin’ that really leaps out of the speakers at you. That was my favourite track of 2020 no less and it feels a shame that this album hasn’t delivered something comparable to that standout effort, though the deconstructed/Califone’ish ‘Press My Luck’ and the elegant pairing of ‘Unsingable’ and ‘The Light is Long’ aren’t a million miles away.



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user ratings (5)
3.8
excellent


Comments:Add a Comment 
DoofDoof
July 20th 2023


15103 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

You'd think someone with my hairline wouldn't want to give the world any more spam but here I am spamming both AOTY and here with these short reviews

DoofDoof
July 20th 2023


15103 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Gud album though

DadKungFu
Staff Reviewer
July 20th 2023


4882 Comments


There are individual elements of this that I really love, the way the instruments seems to show up for a few measures at a time before being supplanted by something else, the gentle new-age oddness, the contradictory sparse lushness of it, rn it's feeling like something I should come back to a few times before making a judgement

DoofDoof
July 20th 2023


15103 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Dad - I liked this straight away as it’s very much my thing, but I guess in reality this album is a grower

theBoneyKing
July 20th 2023


24441 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Nice one Doof! I'm digging these little reviews, keep 'em coming.



I've been shilling Mills for a while, glad to see him finally getting his due.

DoofDoof
July 20th 2023


15103 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Thanks Boney, I'll put 'em up every now and again - esp if I think something isn’t getting a review here.



In this case no one had even loaded the album onto the site ;)

Sunnyvale
Staff Reviewer
July 20th 2023


5914 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Keep the reviews coming, Doof - not only is the writing good but they tend to be for albums which are my thing but I'm somehow bypassing. This was very enjoyable on first listen.

DoofDoof
July 20th 2023


15103 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

thanks sunnyv - if something's new and not been reviewed and I dig it I'll try my best, I'm posting a load of short reviews on AOTY regularly so might be little extra effort :D

Sunnyvale
Staff Reviewer
July 21st 2023


5914 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah, this is beautiful, has a strange mood to it which isn't really replicated by any other music I've heard. Kinda reminds me of John Martyn a bit in places, that might be the closest comparison I've got.

DadKungFu
Staff Reviewer
July 21st 2023


4882 Comments


Like a stitched-together John Martyn almost like each little element is attached to the next but not really meshing or overlapping

anat
Contributing Reviewer
July 21st 2023


5755 Comments


I can’t say this is impressing me as much as the last, but it’s certainly very intriguing, and I’m enjoying the way most tracks seem to trail off into patchwork bedlam

DoofDoof
July 22nd 2023


15103 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

anat - well I agree this is a shade weaker than the previous album but I do respect the choice of collab on this one, think Weisman adds a lot



I actually forgot the previous album was effectively a collaboration with Cass McCombs, read an interview and Mills he really taught him a lot about economy in lyrics in particular when they were working on that album

anat
Contributing Reviewer
July 22nd 2023


5755 Comments


I’m sure I’ve said it before but his voice reminds me of bill wurtz and the hodge pidge compositions on this make me think of history of japan

DoofDoof
July 22nd 2023


15103 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Just watched five minutes of ‘history of Japan’ - strangely addictive but I’m not sure I learnt anything I’ll remember :D

anat
Contributing Reviewer
July 22nd 2023


5755 Comments


how bout I dooo anyway

Sunnyvale
Staff Reviewer
July 27th 2023


5914 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I've been listening to this a lot, really scratches an itch

DoofDoof
July 27th 2023


15103 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

check the previous one if you haven't - still a little better I think and quite similar

Sunnyvale
Staff Reviewer
July 27th 2023


5914 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I actually haven't heard any of this guy's previous works, despite being familiar with his name for a while. Will do

theBoneyKing
July 27th 2023


24441 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

He's quite prolific as a producer and session musician so I'm sure you've heard his touch on something before now.

I'm actually not quite clicking with some of this, it has some very wonderful moments for sure but I prefer his previous two for sure.

DoofDoof
July 27th 2023


15103 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Hmmm, this is pretty much a perfect follow up to the previous one for me - a couple of the later songs are a bit less engaging I guess



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