Jean Dawson, an artist who grew up between San Diego and Tijuana brought together multiple different genres on his latest album Glimmer of God. The album brings in vibes from West Coast Hip Hop, Punk, British New Wave, and even some 80’s esc synthwave. If you are a fan of The Weeknd, The 1975, or even Tory Lanez in his Alone at Prom era, this album is the perfect pick for you.
The opening track Darlin’ starts off with these psychedelic rock esc guitar riffs before quickly transitioning into an R&B style beat before with another switch about halfway through the song into a beat strung along by a heavy hitting baseline similar to those you’d hear in a Thundercat song. This first track sets up the versatility and diversity this album brings.
The next standout track is Play Dead, the third track on the album and it brings another massive beat switch. The song starts off with an eerie voice repeating the line “oh she’s dead” before the beat drops into a JPEGMAFIA esc beat, with heavy 808’s, quick paced snares and backing synths. The beat then switches with one minute left into a Suicideboys boys type song with Dawson screaming “show me love or show me hate” and proceeding to scream rap for the remainder of the song.
The lead Single off the album Die For Me features Lil Yachty, and shows off just how well Dawson can sing, as throughout the entirety of the song he hits multiple high notes when singing the line “I love the way you miss me...” and has beautiful synths and violins backing a fairly simple R&B beat. Lil Yachty fits the beat perfectly with his modern rap style and flows perfectly between the 808’s before they drop out halfway through his verse before switching the tempo of which he emphasizes words to match the tempo of the build.
Dawson even throws in a song in Spanish in the form of the interlude Murciélago in which it transitions from a song in which the beat is entirely made up of Piano and Violin into a song that sounds like it is ripped straight out of the 80’s in You’re Bleeding Everywhere.
Dawson closes out the album with a beautiful outro in the song Kollapse that relies heavily on stringed instruments, synths, and piano that gives you a sense of something has come to an end.
Dawson is a relatively small artist but he does have cosigns from Earl Sweatshirt, A$AP Rocky, SZA, Lil Yachty and Kevin Abstract.
Photo Sourced from Spotify.