Track Reviews // JARV IS - Must I Evolve?


Single (15th May 2019 - Rough Trade)

Ahead of a series of London dates Jarvis Cocker has released work from his new project JARV IS. Revelling in the kind of sashaying film noir soundscape he’s best known for Cocker’s lyrics cast us back to the big bang (or maybe a small bang, actually, more of a pop) and recall his early triumphs like I Spy and F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E. in their puerile prodding and acerbic, wry glance at the minute and massive. But it’s from an advanced perspective; singing an Anthem for Doomed Everything in the trenches of obsolescence.

The careening downhill cacophony mirroring the accelerating hurtle towards extinction and the backing vocals’ call and response whip the atmosphere into an accelerating storm of percussive, electronic and human noise. Cocker teeters atop a rubble mountain of apocalyptic imagery; master and surveyor of the wastes. The beat is an insistent response to the question of the title, humming and pumping like a piston somewhere between krautrock and a Saturday morning superhero theme tune.

Bandmates Serafina Steer, Emma Smith, Andrew McKinney, Jason Buckle and Adam Betts goad a decisive step back towards the Pulp frontman’s wizardry of rhetoric and louche mischief after his relatively highbrow and sombre work with Chilly Gonzales. Selling the single only at live dates and advertising it with “Life is primarily a live experience”; never let it be said that Jarvis doesn’t know how to tantalise and titillate a fanbase…

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