Lavish harmonies and arrangements abound in an album of intelligent baroque power-pop.
Milwaukee-born, Chicago-lived musician E.R. Jurken is a name that probably isn’t on the radar of many on the European side of the Atlantic – he’s had one release prior to this, “I stand corrected”, released around 5 years prior to this sophomore release and in between, there’s been a lot of… life.
The muse has returned, however, and it has brought the listener, according to the press release, a second “entry in the canon of outside/inside rock and roll records”. This quirky album gets off to a start that is reminiscent of two groups who have “Jelly” in their title – California’s Jellyfish and Pennsylvania’s The Jellybricks – harmony-laced, exuberant baroque power-pop of a most appealing sort is present in the opening ‘In Monterey’. That pace is maintained and given a slight country-ish twang in ‘I do’ before ‘Morning Paper’ slips into a more mid-tempo early Elton John reflection.
‘So, Surprise’ is probably the only song that this reviewer can recall that contains the word “bellicose” (and rhymes it with “crinkle your nose”) – strummed, lush guitars, rococo backing vocals and melancholy strings surround a lot of thinking out loud. Crunching guitars give way to Spaghetti Western minor chords on ‘Main man’, interspersed with thumping Eels-like choruses, and there’s a tight, sharply played, abrupt ending too.
‘Lady of Renown’ moves back into more reflective-romantic piano-man areas with its “Guess who’s back in town?” mantra before ‘Mighty & Concealed’ ventures into the realm of fuzzy psych. It would fit nicely into a “Nuggets” type compilation. ‘Uncle Denny’ is another that, vocally, is reminiscent of the band Jellyfish in its almost call-and-response lead line and backing vocals. Jurken’s vocal dexterity is impressively showcased by the switching of the stereo field – all wrapped up in a dose of 1920’s swing strained through a 21st century lens.
‘All the way to Georgia’ starts off as though it might melodically, from the first two or three notes, morph into ‘The Weight’ but makes a sharp handbrake turn into a melee of internal rhyme and tuneful salvation. Penultimate track ‘A Good Place to Fall’ is an even gentler three minutes and twenty-three seconds of literate emotional discussion before the soft release of the album’s title track ‘To Be Continued’ which, given its positioning, is quite appropriate.
This album, lavish in arrangements, lyrics, ideas and harmonies, is a testament to what can be done by someone ploughing their own creative furrow and finding answers to the questions that their own creative urge compels them to. ER Jurken has come up with a gem of an album that will please anyone with an ear for the unusually familiar.
