No matter which part of his discography one listens to, there always lingers this homemade vibe, this very welcoming feeling of youthful energy that does not know any restraints or pre-existent rules. Prior descriptions are also perfectly captured by the name of his first LP release in 2016 called “In My Room” which – to no surprise – equally has been entirely recorded from his private room.

Now, dawning in the beginning of the year 2024, is Collier’s fifth official studio album release, which will be called “Djesse Vol. 4”. Following three prior albums, this soon-to-be released LP is the sequel of an ambitious four-album project that intends to represent as many kinds of various music and culture as possible, while still getting its own jacob-ean spin onto the tracks. From start to finish, the musical scenery changes from big, searing orchestral string/choral arrangements (Vol.1), to warm and private acoustic folk & African music (Vol.2), to (what Jacob himself calls) “negative space” electronical pop music including r&b/neo-soul influences (Vol.3).

All these prequels are to be concluded by the mentioned up-coming album, that tries to marry all prior musical directions into one, uniform idea. Collier compares this cycle with the way either a day or a life progresses: first, you start off in a dimension of youth-spirited exploration and go out into the world (morning; childhood) then to be gratified on your return from the journey with the sun setting (dusk; older teenager) after which, the fictional character “Djesse” ventures out into the nightlife (midnight; college student (?)). Trying to fit the new, soon-to-come addition into this cycle, it could be interpreted as a revisitation of all former stages (morning/sunrise/adulthood). Here, the character “Djesse” (possibly even an alter-ego of Collier) reembarks upon his journey by reflecting on what life has offered to him so far and what he has learned along the way; perfectly concluding the depicted cycle.

Overall, one can say, there definitely is proper reason to be excited about the release. Certainly, Collier’s music might not be for everyone, and there is no denying that there are dozens over dozens of hypertalented multi-instrumentalists and promising artist on the horizon. But one must admit that there is no one else that creates music as Jacob Collier does. Everything this artist creates is completely unique to him, while his uncompromising nature makes it impossible for Collier to sacrifice authenticity even slightly to gain more mass-appeal.

Isn’t this what an artist should be celebrated for?

When I think about Jacob Collier, I notice that there are reasons for me putting his music on that high of a pedestal that cannot be understood by solely analyzing his music: While trying to define his music and put into words what exactly makes it great, it gets apparent quite quickly that there are some reasons that lie outside his official/formal releases. One of these dimensions can be encountered on YouTube, where you see Collier teaching advanced jazz theory to his viewers in a very casual setting (you will in fact find dozens of such videos). Without wanting to boast about his knowledge in any way, he humbly – for the music’s own sake – tries to show, what makes him tick, what drives his compositional intent. Said in other words, just seeing him explain his process and expressing his musical knowledge, made me appreciate his work on a more profound level. In fact, this concept/occurrence interestingly does not seem to be that rare of a phenomenon. Similarly, the TED talk of Benjamin Zander with the name “The transformative power of classical music” (2008) discusses this concept, where after verbally explaining the intent of a composition and giving some insight into the musical innerworkings of a piece, an audience can have a significantly heightened emotional reaction to the music. Therefore, it seems like, to fully engage in such music, it is sometimes necessary to possess certain information that is not entirely inherent in the audible part of the composition. This poses the question, if maybe exactly this could be the reason for people’s very split opinion about musicians that compose the way also Collier does. Music in general that is set to break free from boundaries, that intends to – at least partially – simultaneously pose as some kind of progressive development of art itself has worked this way most of the time (e.g. 20^th century atonal music by Arnold Schoenberg; Igor Stravinsky concertos; maybe even Miles Davis’s modal jazz from the 60s (…)). Observing Collier’s music through that lens, one can see instances, where he composes out of that exact mindset and that is also where a lot of criticism will come in and belittle the composition for being “too stimulating” or simply “too much” (you will find many of such comments on YouTube). There most certainly is no consensus about if this mode of art-making should be considered favorable or the contrary, as one could argue against it given that it is made less accessible by expecting the listener to have some amount of prior analytical-musical education. Consequently, inaccessibility of (for example) classical music is commonly criticized, there are comments about it being gatekept and thereby made harder to be broadcast and enjoyed by a wider audience.

Regarding this topic, I refuse to make a final statement or decision. Though, what one potentially could take away from this is how to get into the music of specifically Jacob Collier and similar artists. Humans in general are intent driven. We care about WHY others do what they do, not just about WHAT they did exactly (at least if we want to get a deeper understanding of someone’s actions). So maybe instead of listening to the music of an artist, we should listen to them explain it to us first.

It could be quite enlightening to see how that changes our experience. 

My song recommendations from the albums:

A cappella: “Moon River” & “You and I”; Acoustic: “Make Me Cry” & “Lua”

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