Tasman Jude ADD

Review

Album Review: Tasman Jude - Green

10/08/2014

by Justine Amadori Ketola

Tasman Jude has a sound that is appealing by virtue of its simplicity

Tasman Jude began as an experiment, two guys met at a taco stand where one of them worked and was singing on the job. What resulted was a trip to an open mic session where they improvised their performance minutes before taking the stage.  The band’s sound has a reggae rhythm, that much is clear but the message is more of a soul revival, a truth-telling session that developed outside of the studio and off the stage.  

Lead vocalist Caleb “Bravehart” Hart brings his superlative tenor vocals to the table. Skillful delivery honed in his native Trinidad and specifically Tobago where he grew up listening to the rhythm of the islands. The sound is stripped down musically, with acoustic guitar, bass and percussion providing a sonic bed for this big vocal instrument to come through. As the release opens with its title track Green it offers the typical rasta shout out or hail up. While in the midst of social ills like addiction and corrupt leaders, Tasman Jude declare they are “recruiting the soldiers of love yes we’re marching on to Zion.” The groove is sparse, a bass trades lines with a skanking guitar as Caleb shouts out for recruits to all the continents and peoples of the world.  

For Yahweh Tasman Jude sings praises to the Creator, giving thanks for all the strength in chords that soar and convince.  On Fugue State the band provides a first hand account of life as musicians who may have their creativity stifled or have some sort of dissociative amnesia as defined by the song title, defined as a sense of forgetting who you are or where you have been. A complex guitar line interweaves with Caleb’s classic rock style vocals to accept where they are at in the present and how they can move from this realization.  

The band’s namesake track Tasman Jude is a tribal ride on a soca-style rhythm fueled by acoustic guitar that echoes the mystical sound of Flamenco or Klezmer music, driven by a hard driving djembe drum rhythm. The chorus is sung as a type of chant, following a rapid fire lyrical flow. The tempo slows to explain that this is how they do it, tempo changes, intensity, an intentional artistic statement that serves to explain their improvisational style.

The Follow Your Dreams groove is performed on a trap drum set, still spartan in its gear, with hand  drum percussion, and even hand claps to deliver the inspiring chorus, “follow your dreams let your spirit free, you can be who you want to be, anything is possible if you believe, you can be who you want to be, so work hard.” Possibly the most catchy chorus is contained in Every Breath with its reggae-styled vocals in the verses, broken down over just a bass line and percussion in a style reminiscent of the band Sublime. The bridge introduces reggae-rhythmed acoustic guitar, moving into the chorus with crash cymbals, and Caleb’s vocals seasoned by harmonies singing  “Live each day as if its your last, every breath is a second chance” so full of motivation and wonder.

As the set closes, the sounds of ocean waves move into rock-styled acoustic guitar ideas that paint a minor-key landscape for Caleb’s vocals to soar in with “All we need….One Love” and that is it, a little vamping at the end and that is all they need to finish the song.  

Tasman Jude has a sound that is appealing by virtue of its simplicity, not too much instrumentation going on, and also for its congeniality, with songs written to move the listener to sing along and get involved. Organic riffing,  songwriting and delivery of the type they are producing is what attracts fans these days. It’s accessible, it translates in the live setting makes for interesting studio recordings and vice versa. 

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