The Long and Short of It

Description

THE PORTLAND MUSICIAN DELIVERS A 2ND ALBUM BLENDING JAZZ, HIP-HOP, R&B AND PSYCH POP. Graham Jonson, a musician based in Portland, Oregon, started music very early: he began with piano as a toddler, discovered J Dilla's music in middle school, and released self-produced singles at age 16. He first appeared under the pseudonym quickly, quickly in 2017. Some of his early tracks already have over 10 million streams. The number is not meant to boast but to highlight that his work found an audience without the traditional levers of the music industry; it's a DIY success thanks to the Internet, but, by his own assessment at age 20, the real work is only beginning now. With The Long and Short of It, his debut on Ghostly International, Jonson reinvents his project as a full-fledged songwriter, singer, and arranger, playing nearly everything from drums to keyboards and guitar. The resulting sound straddles jazz, hip-hop, r&b, and psych pop while suggesting a new genreless path. Recorded during and after a short move to Los Angeles, Graham's songs are cool and welcoming, navigating anxiety and apathy, distance and desire with lyrical introspection and vulnerability. A student of the Stones Throw catalog (with a preference for Madlib's Quasimoto project), Graham remains grounded in rhythm, trusting his instincts in this new palette of organic instrumentation. The tracks glide and collide with careful attention to tempo as his talent for staging and storytelling unfolds. The opening track, "Phases," begins with radical wisdom from poet and activist Sharrif Simmons, the album's sole vocal feature, delivering a psychedelic poem covering cosmic existentialism. Over the spoken word, a frenzy of grooves from Micah Hummel's drums and Elliot Cleverdon's strings rises in the mix, setting the stage for Graham's debut behind the mic and keyboards. The second half of the track transforms into a hypnotic instrumental piece, the drums locking into guitar lines, stopping for a spacious pause before reassembling, twice as powerful, riding a cathartic and blissful saxophone solo from Haily Naiswanger. A highlight of the album's B-side, "Everything is Different (To Me)" showcases all the traits of the new quickly, quickly in an ambitious suite: a catchy guitar loop, a classic hip-hop drum break, a swell of strings, and sneaky progressive chord changes, all in smart contrast with lyrics detailing a struggle with lethargy. The album nears its end with a series of questions on the poignant "Wy," where Graham, alone in L.A., spins the hypochondriac wheel and delves into worries that seem to plague the Internet; his neck hurts, his hands shake, his stomach knots. He rejects his need for self-diagnosis and chooses to devote himself to the present moment through music. A floating outro follows, built on airy synths, contemplative guitars, and a soothing water droplet sound. The descent is "Otto's Dance," a brief instrumental daydream nodding to one of his favorite Brazilian albums, Clube da Esquina by Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges.