Album Review: Jones “New Skin” Is Pure Sophistication
I am in love with Jones’ New Skin record from head to toe. The album, to be released on October 7, is trip-hop, dream pop R&B that scintillating in how it seduces you. Each song feels like a sultry caress, inviting you to feel passion. For Jones, to get New Skin, you have get rid of all that made the old one feel so tired.
Thematically, this album is timeless in its relevance. Jones centers her record on cleansing. As the album progresses, you feel as if you have gotten a bird’s eye view into a chapter of life everyone undergoes, i.e. cleansing. We all have periods where we look at friends, lovers, and decisions and conclude that, maybe, we have not been as clear in our interests for our selves. Yet, it is not simply about the lack of clarity we hold in telling our desires to our partners and ourselves, but also the lack of clarity we contain in trying to be protective and progressive with our hearts. Hence, we enter phases in our life where seek newness from ourselves and our surroundings. How Jones has managed to encompass this spiritual reality in music is nothing short of majestic. Thus, New Skin is like a look into how a human develops their light into one of grace by confronting the aspects of their world, particularly in terms of love, that do not not rise them.
Jones’ questioning of how love can be self-sabotaging is both pertinent and prosperous in execution. The album electrifies 90’s R&B by giving it a more synthetic back-drop that blends the bounce of Hip Hop with the frequency of electronica. Hence, the album tussles between being a dance-fest, while also being one that you listen to and nod in sheer enjoyment as you listen to on the bus to work. Yet, no matter what, New Skin feels like the record you turn on to feel a jolt of life, which, again, relates back to it theme. Jones lyrically and through her vocal range is trying to revive sparks in her life, which is a sentiment anyone can understand. Still, her struggles with enlightenment are handled with a musical grace that assures this record is never one about self-destruction or sinking, but about what it means to rise.
While many artists sing on how their life is combusting, Jones’ sings on how life is constantly transforming. For her, it is automatic that a door opens to another’s closing. Thus, New Skin is a rhythmic uplift that will leave you in awe of this artist. Yet, I have to admit, I am unsurprised by the magnificence of both this record and Jones. I have loved the sweet strength of her vocals since
I her in concert, and have concluded that she is the epitomes of elegance. She carries an aura of highness that makes her appear regal on stage. Yet, what I found fascinating about New Skin is that she turns her celestial royalty as a performer into one of an earthbound queen on recording.
Whether she is Heavenly angel on stage or earthly queen in song, the point is that Jones’ uses her music as consistent foundation to reach above. Life on this earth can be one of consistent challenge, yet New Skin shows that music is central to overcoming them. Though love and life may drag you down, Jones uses her vocal grace and the swift sophistication of tracks’ beats to assure that she achieves splendor or rather a New Skin. I recommend each and every track of this album which will be released on October 7, and can be bought Here.
