Jaye Jayle – Prisyn

30/08/2020

Jaye Jayle essentially consists of the backing band of Emma Ruth Rundle. Led by Evan Patterson, incidentally also Rundle’s partner. The band had released their sophomore ‘No Trails and Other Unholy Paths’ two years ago to great critical acclaim.
It as was an unusual mix between Americana, experimental guitar and noise rock that saw them as a support act for Rundle’s European tour and even secured a slot on Roadburn.
This third album feels a lot different though. Less of a band effort , it is a purely electronically driven record by Patterson himself. A sonic diary of sorts pieced together from his months on the road touring.
Originally, the idea for this approach came from a request by couture designer Ashley Rose to write the soundtrack to one of her fashion shows together with Ben Chisholm and Chelsea Wolfe.

The interchange between Chisholm and Patterson worked so well, that they continued making material like this and by the end of three months on the road they had enough material to release a full album worth of songs.
Each track is a snapshot of a particular moment in Patterson’s life during that stretch of time. Stripped of its rock band persona, it has turned out to be a very autobiographical account, both in its artistic delivery as in its lyrical content.
No guest appearances from Rundle, no bass, drums or guitar leads, just Patterson recording in the most Spartan of ways on his iPhone and then sending it off to Chisholm who enriched the sound with all kinds of effects.
Evan’s voice sounds even more akin to Nick Cave’s most introspective, solemn moments as he recalls visuals from his own reality. Like when he was threatened at gunpoint by a band of teenagers in Paris on ‘Guntime’ , the electronic, trickling downpour of ‘Don’t Blame the Rain’ or the barren, desolate and droning road trip across Kansas that is ‘ The River Spree’. His singing resembles more a cryptic sort of storytelling through his own unbridled streams of consciousness.
It is a record that might not have been made in different global circumstances and is likely the most personal one that Patterson will ever make under this moniker.