Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
If you follow the American indie underground, odds are you already know about the music of 420Muse, whose soft jazz/pop/R&B crossover beats have been filling the speakers of discerning melody fans without fail in recent memory. Part of the reason why Jack Miller’s music is so compelling is because, unlike the output that we’ve seen from a lot of the mainstream market, his is a style that always buts harmonies above everything else, even when it might have been more commercially viable to have done differently.
He’s an aesthetics man, constantly paying attention to the sort of details that a lot of artists in his position would just as soon ignore, and although he’s a complicated poet with a lot of layers within his narratives for us to peel through, he produces quite the commanding and accessible profile in his newest release under the 420Muse moniker, and specifically the conceptualism that sits beneath “In The Nightclub.” “In The Nightclub,” aside from being a stirring single, is a culmination of its creator’s aforementioned talents, and while it’s not the only stunning number this songwriter has penned in his lifetime, it’s certainly one of his very best so far.
Lyrically speaking, “In The Nightclub” isn’t the most imagistic track in the modern nightclub collection; on the contrary, it’s a bit enigmatic, purposely surreal, and multi-interpretive if you set aside the simplicity of its truly passion-inspired story. In some ways, Jack Miller is using every band of texture as a means of conveying his emotion to us, and while he mainly puts his focus on the lead vocal, there’s a lot of equal distribution of the melody on the sax and the piano, as well.
Everyone is pulling their weight in this track, from the bass to the drums and right back up to the front of the stage, but had there been anyone other than Jack Miller at the helm of the ship, I can’t be sure whether or not “In The Nightclub” would translate as well as it does in this present capacity. He’s got a signature sound at this point without any room for debate or improvement, and while the bones of this song are strong, they’re somewhat customized to his skills alone.
Those of us who live for the chill-inducing grooves that defined an entire generation of the rhythm and blues songbook simply cannot go wrong with 420Muse’s “In The Nightclub,” and all of what we’ve been getting out of this corner of the American underground lately. There aren’t a lot of performers that have the sort of panache that Jack Miller does even from within the confines of a recording studio, and while I’m sure that he won’t be the last artist to level major gusto into his grooves, right now I’d describe him as one of the most talented to do so in or out of his scene. The underground is rife with amazing musicianship at the moment, but if you’re looking for pure jazz vocals with a sensuous poetic bend to the verses they emit, this is the guy you need to go see.
Michael Crowder
