jens – Any Other Way

“One of the strongest closing sections I’ve heard in ages.”

Tom: What, he couldn’t afford a capital letter?

Tim: ‘jens’ is off Norway, bringing us this, with a promising start, dipping occasionally, but with one of the strongest closing sections I’ve heard in ages.

Tim: Am I wrong?

Tom: Thanks to a particular cadence and chord in that first verse, I kept singing “I Can’t Go For That” over this for a while. But, you’re right: that’s a really strong recovery out of the middle eight, and it almost saves the rest of the track.

Tim: The less enjoyable parts for me come at the start of each chorus, with the iffy vocoding; on the other hand, from 1:45 onwards it barely puts a note wrong. There’s almost a slight genre shift, really – from brooding electropop to regular upbeat pop, and I love that. The backing vocals that come along thirty seconds before the end? Marvellous.

Tom: And at three minutes long, I can deal with the slower parts. Sure, it’s not going on my regular playlist any time soon, but it gets a solid “Sure, That’ll Do” from me, which is practically an endorsement by my standards.