'The Road Less Traveled': A Review of "The Jam Sessions" by Jalena

Believe it or not - But having now successfully navigated my way through two hundred and fifty of these things within the last year and a half or so (more than eight hundred altogether) - I find that when I write reviews, I get so much reaction based on my ridiculous ramblings. What I tend to do is to structure the review in such a way that, while I do tell you about that particular artist (or that particular label), I’m also going to tell you about a dozen or so similar ones who you’d like and probably a few dissimilar names as well who you won’t enjoy. The reason I do this, largely, is because I’d like to mention artists that you normally don’t see mentioned very much and also I do just so much like talking about certain people as well. Incidentally, if you cannot stand me rambling (I don’t like you either), you might be oddly comforted to know that I do it when I talk as well, as evidenced by my Wife’s most constant refrain of “what the hell are you talking about”. Still, with that being said, I should say that I do look forward to very rare moments like such when I stumble upon an artist who . . . Just doesn’t really fit in to any particular point of reference too well, making it nearly impossible for my usual wordy marathons to even get started. Meet the TRULY delightful and very ‘different’ Jalena. This is typically the point where I’d start bringing in other names like Patrice Roberts (and all of that wonderful chocolate) or Faye-Ann Lyons (and her abs) or Tarah Holdipp (and all of that ass) or Tejay or Shelly G (Ooooh Shelly!) or a handful other names for the sake of comparison (I hope you caught what I just did there), but I can’t really do that here because Jalena doesn’t sound like them at all. She doesn’t look like them either . . . Well . . . No. In something like Soca music, where the extreme is only the extreme momentarily and being unusual is the norm, Jalena is rather EASILY one of the most interesting artists I have EVER seen in my entire life and while I’m certainly not an expert on the genre, that is still saying quite a bit - In a land where being different is not only rewarded but is celebrated with a passion unlike anything else on the planet, Jalena is Different’s wife.

Why? Where do I start? First of all, while I’m sure there’re more than I know about, Tortola, where Jalena is from isn’t exactly known as being a hotbed of really really strong vibes, at least not to my knowledge. There’s Jalena and that guy Iyaz and . . . Uhhhh . . . Xtreme Band . . . My Aunt lives there and . . . Yep. There aren’t too many who stick out and in a fairly short amount of time Jalena has maybe become the area’s most recognizable artist in the regional sense. The next thing is her look. I’m not going to dwell on this too much, but if I told you to picture a Soca artist in your mind, chances are that it would take you a decade or two worth of thinking before anything remotely resembling a Jalena popped into your head. Also, I don’t actually know Jalena but her attitude seems to be the most welcoming thing about her. I once referred to her as the reigning Queen Clown of Soca because (even though clowns, in general, are very creepy ‘people‘) I’ve never seen a picture of her or a video where she didn’t seem to be having a good time. Jalena is the type of person who would go to a fete and see no one dancing, so she would begin the dancing whether she liked the music or not and who doesn’t like such an individual (the same type of person is almost essential to have hanging around if you find yourself to be COMPLETELY broke) (trust me, I know). Finally, of course there is the matter of her music. The very first time I heard anything from Jalena would have been maybe two or three years ago now when she had the kind of electric sounding single ‘Roll’ for Slaughter Arts. The tune was pretty good, but more importantly, you literally had to FIGHT IT to get it out of your head. That song also had a video which was very nice and caught a bit of attention. From since then, Jalena has been following a course, not too different from many of her peers - Releasing singles (I think the next tune I remember was the HUGE ‘Carnival A Come’ for Slaughter Arts‘ Soca Bluetooth Riddim) and staying pretty active - But if you actually followed her a bit, a year or so ago Jalena revealed that she was working towards not one, but two different albums. One would be a Pop album (and her music is, predominately, the ‘Groovy’ style of Soca and the leap to full blown Pop isn’t a massive one) and the other, which is what you and I’d be interested in would be Soca and look what we have here - ”The Jam Sessions”, Jalena’s debut Soca album. The existence of the album is, perhaps, another statement as to the different ways of Jalena. 2010 hasn’t been a fruitful year in terms of Soca artists having albums, for one reason or another and the fact that she not only has one, but one which is digitally available across the Milky Way (or her own label apparently) is most interesting. ”The Jam Sessions” is brimming with tunes which the masses have come to identify with Jalena - Some of her biggest well known efforts as of late, as well a tune or two which are completely new, at least to me. A quality which makes itself rather evident on the album and one which I think is going to be one of the very first things to grab attention (besides the cover, of course) is the fact that Jalena’s music seems to work so well together. What I mean is that if she does a single track in a one style and does another in a completely different style, if you place them in succession on an album, the overall vibes won’t be diminished AT ALL and I think that is a testament to how well she’s managed to develop herself as an artist. On top of that, and more importantly, despite the fact that I have heard one Soca album this year that I’d call better (biggup Alison Hinds), by its end you’re going to have a VERY difficult time making a case for an album being more FUN than Jalena’s.

If you weren’t paying attention (shame on you) a little while back Jalena actually freely gave away a quite a few of the tunes on this album on her Myspace page. It was because of that, for the most part, that I didn’t actually think that we’d be getting her album anytime soon, but it proves to be a most welcomed surprise (and YES - she did remove them so go and buy it!). “It”, of course, is the brand new album from Tortola, BVI rising Soca star, Jalena, ”The Jam Sessions”, which gets started with what is CLEARLY one of its big highlights and one of the genuine highlights of Jalena’s entire catalogue, ‘Bumpa‘. This song is like cold water - If you don’t like it, YOU are the problem. It is very laid back and nice and every time you hear it you just smile as Jalena tells potential wining applicants to keep their hands to themselves until given approval by she. The tune is also one of four which I feel make up the real class of the album and is a certified winner. Next up is another of the album’s top tracks, ’Down De Road’. This one took a minute or two to grow on me when I’d first come across it, but by the time this album rolls in, I’m well intoxicated by the downright dazzling track. It is another ’feel free to smile until it hurts your face’ type of vibes, which you’ll find throughout the album. And lastly, of the opening group of songs on ”The Jam Sessions” is the album’s first of five official combinations, the electric ’Jam Wid Me’, which features Jalena alongside Clint Henderson from out of Dominica. It is another lovely track. I’ve never paid too much attention to Henderson, but this was a tune which caught my ears and definitely got me more and more interested in the artist and I’m sure many of his fans would say the same thing about Jalena. Also, for whatever it’s worth (EVERYTHING), my Daughter finds it an impossible task to sit still when we spin this song - So the Princess well approves.

The biggest of names joining Jalena on ”The Jam Sessions” is Problem Child from out of St. Vincy, who chimes in on two songs, the well traveled ’Boring Flex’ and ’Wuk It Up’. The former would have been one of Jalena’s earlier tunes, to my knowledge, and a pretty sizable hit as well for her. The latter, however, is new to me. It does sound somewhat familiar to my ears, but I can’t quite say that I have heard it from before. Between the two it is rather clear that Problem Child and Jalena make a very strong duo and I’d be absolutely SHOCKED if they never linked up again at some point and probably sooner instead of later. One of the other combinations here, ‘In Da Dance’, which features DJ Muggsy and K9 from Anguilla, isn’t new, but it was also just released as a digital single as well. The tune first jumped up (I THINK) as sans Jalena, but she definitely took the already lovely vibes to an even higher level (and should you grab up that digital single, you’ll get both versions of the tune). The other guest spot on ”The Jam Sessions” album is also probably my favourite as Daria (who also just dropped an album of her own) chimes in on the WICKED ‘Do Fuh Do’. I can remember sitting in our truck playing through random tunes on a player and first hearing this tune and liking it so much. There is better material to be found on this album, but I still well enjoy this song and if you’ve never heard it, I’m almost certain you will as well.

Unsurprisingly, despite the fact that Jalena not only brings in some heavy-hitters with whom to vibe and vibe nicely, the heights of ”The Jam Sessions” finds her all alone. Besides the mighty couple of openers, the album pinnacles with two more HUGE solo efforts. First up is ‘Wuk Meh’. I hear this tune at least five times a week because it’s well found its way into the mix I play when I work out (and I have three and it’s on all three of them). Not only is it a beautiful track, but it also has more of a pacing to it than a lot of the songs here - Not necessarily going crazy (more on that in closing), but just a very nice tempo and a sexy song at the same time (and who doesn’t feel sexy when they work out???). Still, when you speak of “pacing“, when you speak “beautiful” and “tempo” and all of that good stuff, there is no greater moment on the whole of the album than on my single favourite tune and another which has well solidified a place on my players, ‘In Meh System’. I have had soooooooooo much fun and sweat sooooooooo much listening to this tune over the past few months or so that I almost make a complete detachment of it from the rest of the songs here (with it being just so familiar and ‘comfortable‘ at this point, but as I said, it doesn’t disrupt the vibes of the album at all - It still fits in - and that riddim . . . The tune is magic and Jalena knows it.

“All de man dem hold on tight
When di gyal dem bend down low
We wukking it up tonight
Everybody jamming so
But tonight’s no fuss, no fight
We liming til early morning
The drinks dem flowing right
THIS MUSIC’S INTOXICATING”

Yes. Yes it is.

The balance of the album includes a few more interesting moments as well. A moment like the somewhat hilarious ‘Next Man’ which, for some (almost surely stupid, because it sounds absolutely nothing like it) reason reminds me of Jamesy P’s tune, ‘Nookie’. Big tune still, my obvious brain lock, notwithstanding. There’s a tune which I’ve never heard before ‘In Da VI’, which I imagine is going to make Jalena a lot of fans out of her neighbours if they weren’t already (and they were). The piece also is one which should, given the opportunity, link Jalena’s name with the BVI, as if she need more help. ’In Da VI’ is the one which kind of took me to thinking ‘outside of the box’ a bit in terms of how I was listening to Jalena’s music, full on. The obvious comparison to make, and I’ve already made it, is to say how easily transferable her music is to the Pop arena, but you REALLY listen to this tune and I hear a bit of Zouk as well and on a few others also. Completely English Zouk is pretty much sacrilegious, but if it sounds this nice - I’m in favour of it (my eternal soul be damned). And ”The Jam Sessions” reaches its end with another such tune, although more hyper in this instance, the SOLID ‘Come To Jam’. It isn’t the best tune on the album, but like so much of the eleven tracks which precede it and the album, in full, I can’t really find a bad thing to say about it, because it is GORGEOUS!

I should say that there’re two things that I was hoping to see here which I didn’t. The first would have been the aforementioned ‘Roll’ (or its wicked remix), but I guess Jalena felt like that was covering too much old ground AND, just one time I’d like to hear Jalena do a song where she COMPLETELY loses her mind and all of her good common sense. I know its not necessarily what she does, but she comes close and I’d LOVE to hear it.

Overall, it’s a winner. If this album becomes your very first introduction to Jalena, then you’re going to come away with a pretty good impression of her talents as an artist. A quality which she also has (which I tried to stress indirectly early on) is that Jalena just seems LIKABLE. She seems like a very fun person, which isn’t really a musical quality (if it were, then pretty much everyone who makes Soca would also seem likeable) (except Lavaman, of course, who would only seem likable if, and only if, you were endowed with an infinite supply of alcohol or are alcohol yourself), but if you already know that going in, it is a part of her personality which radiates on almost every track. Jalena is in the process of doing big things and doing them her own way. So be it wining up on women three times her size, be it flashing a quarter of her naked ass on YouTube or be it just being an absolutely glowing artist, if it ends up sounding anything like ”The Jam Sessions”, I’ll be there too. Well done.

Rated: 4.45/5
Jalena
2010
CD + Digital




Jalena (what kind of a Soca artist do you know of that actually has a website. Not just a Myspace or a Facebook, but an actual website???)
Jalena @ Myspace