I had noticed Jon Cohen‘s musical project in 2006 when his “Self-titled” album landed in my Inbox, when I was writing for the indie rock magazine emoragei, back in the day. I was pleased by his mix of rich and smooth melodies and alt-rock aesthetics.

Ten years later, here I am listening to Jon Cohen’s new opus, a five-song EP titled “Passion Pilgrim”, and again, I find myself charmed by his smooth singing, great bass grooves and danceable rhythms (In Order to Survive). This Montreal-based multi-instrumentist has a sixth sense for finding infectious melodies, like on Rhapsody in Pink, an 80s influenced groovy song that Chromeo or Hot Chip could have written. Later, the bassline on Love in Your Heart could have been found on a Cure album from the early 80s. All five songs were entirely recorded as a one-man-band. All instruments were either plucked, kicked, pounded scratched or broken by Jon Cohen himself.

 

Cohen has the pop touch that somehow lacked with Franky Skeletor and even Seoul, both great new indie pop artists that are just one notch edgier, somehow losing that pop crackle. Anybody listening for the first time to Jon Cohen Experimental’s music will feel his or her hips move. On a dark dance floor filled with smoke and lasers, any listener would easily abandon all resistance. When Cohen doesn’t rely on great melodies, the result isn’t as strong. Weakness, ironically, is to me the weakest song of the EP. Its experimental spin doesn’t fly as high as the four other tracks on “Passion Pilgrim”.

 

Overall, it’s great news that Jon Cohen Experimental continues to publish great songs. Check them out.

jon cohen experimental passion pilgrim

JON COHEN EXPERIMENTAL
Passion Pilgrim EP
(independant, 2014)

-Genre: indie pop
-In the same playground as Chromeo, Beck, Hot Chip

Follow the artist via his Facebook page
Listen to videos on the artist’s YouTube channel
Buy the album on the artist’s BandCamp page

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About The Author

Mélomane invétéré plongeant dans tous les genres et époques, Nicolas Pelletier a publié 6 000 critiques de disques et concerts depuis 1991, dont 1100 chez emoragei magazine et 600 sur enMusique.ca, dont il a également été le rédacteur en chef de 2009 à 2014. Il publie "Les perles rares et grands crus de la musique" en 2013, lance le site RREVERB en 2014, et devient stratège numérique des radios de Bell Média en 2015, participant au lancement de la marque iHeartRadio au Canada en 2016. Il dirige maintenant la stratégie numérique d'ICI Musique, la radio musicale de Radio-Canada.