Zeal – ‘Clouds’ & ‘Obey’

Zeal – ‘Clouds’ (mp3)

Zeal – ‘Obey’ (mp3)

I’ve been looking forward to Zeal’s debut album since the moment I first heard the stunning ‘Wasps‘ last year. The wait has been (kinda) long but not in vain, because after only a handful of listens I’m already pretty wet over With the Moon Alongside Racing Us Home. It’s a much more patient album than I was expecting but no less thrilling. There’s songs that are rushing, like ‘Wasps’ and ‘Obey,’ but there’s also mid-tempo grooves like ‘Clouds’ and even some instrumental interludes and borderline-ambient passages. Fortunately, Zeal (aka Robert Jarvis) makes it all stick together with lyrical motifs of wasps, moons and clouds running throughout and his distinct, nasal talk-singing. Best of all, you can get this compelling album right now for the price of FREE from right here.

‘Obey’ and ‘Cloud’ are streaming at the top and they give you a good idea of both the quality and diversity on display here. As per my last post on Zeal, I don’t want to be reductive by lazily compare him to the Anticon stable of artists, but there are definitely similarities (of the best kind) that act as a good reference point for those familiar with WHY?, Themselves et al. But With The Moon Alongside Racing Us Home feels way more personal to just be an homage to other stuff. I don’t want to speculate so soon after posting my favourite albums of the year so far, but this is definitely an end-of-year contender.

www.myspace.com/zealtv