NMF: Jean Paul Jean Paul, ‘It Comes Back’ album

Jean Paul, the vibrant indie rock sextet that unveils sophomore album It Comes Back on Friday, July 12, the culmination of a series of singles that allowed the disparate styles and sounds showcased on the record to bloom like chapters in an overarching story.

The follow-up to 2022 debut Pollyanna, which boasted a Boston Emissions’ Song of the Year in “Bruiser,” this 11-track effort from Jean Paul Jean Paul finds desire at its thematic core, weaving tales of love, heartbreak, self-reflection, pain and joy as the cyclical nature of life plays out through a genre spectrum of guitar-rock that blends elements of jangle-pop, alt-rock, folk, reggae, grunge, and what the band itself dubs “guitarmonies” across a tireless sprint of a 30-minute run time.

There’s no sleeping in here.

“One major component that we all were striving for with this album was to capture the raw energy that these songs have when we play them live on stage,” says bassist Christopher Cornell. “Not to make a live album, per se, but to somehow thread that needle of raw live energy with amazing production value. The band isn’t afraid to incorporate any and all styles of music to avoid running the risk of becoming stagnant. We’re pulling from all of our roots and at the same time being open to what’s new.”

Produced, engineered, and mixed by Benny Grotto and recorded at Mad Oak Studios in the band’s home base of Allston, It Comes Back kicks off with a fury through lead track and album release single “Jai alai,” a song penned by vocalist and guitarist Steve Harding on a beach during a trip to Fort Lauderdale during the Covid shutdown. It’s a ripper of a tune that sets an instant mood for the album, and lyrically revolves around a person who rediscovered their mojo after suddenly losing it, and reveling in the ability to bounce back – hence the album’s title.
“‘Jai alai’ is about bouncing back after you lose your mojo,” Harding admits. “And when it happens it sucks and, like any feeling, in the moment it feels like things are never gonna change, but they ultimately do and time rolls on, waves crash forward, and you’re replenished. It’s cyclical. Emotions are, oceans are, and time can seem to be. Jai alai is a really cool, intense sport played primarily in South Florida and I thought it made for a nice metaphor for bouncing back when you may have lost your groove. You’ll be back, it comes back.”

Where “Jai alai” is about the loss and reacquisition of one’s mojo, it could be said that the other 10 tracks delve into how it’s lost, and then found, in the first place.

Tracks like the frenetic “Girl You Like” and yearning album closer “Origami” were also penned during Covid, when Harding notes how people were isolated or alone, making up movies in their minds. The ‘90s alt-rock-riff flavored “All My Heroes” centers around how we carry around other people’s dramas, both media-created and reality-driven, in our minds, and how that can consciously or subconsciously be projected into everyday behaviors.

On the breezy “Mona Lisa,” a cruising alt-rock rhythm glides with ease as a song about desire unfolds.

“‘Mona Lisa’ isn’t about the Mona Lisa,” Harding admits. “It was written in Brighton, during Covid too, and it’s about desire – really wanting something, or someone, but having to keep things cool. The actual Mona Lisa is like that in that it’s there, and you can look, but you will never be able to touch it. We liked the cheeky-ness of it. It may have a nod to The Cars.”

The appropriately raucous “Ascension (dive bar)” centers around getting drunk at a dingy bar after heartbreak and having a great time while doing so; while the fluid and confrontational “Fix Bayonets,” written by Cornell, is about finding that last ounce of fight when grief has all but consumed our physical existence.

“‘Fix Bayonets’ was written during a pretty dark period of my life,” Cornell reveals. “It touches on living up to expectations of others that you ultimately fall short on, self-reflection on if the battle to continue is worth it, and ultimately a rallying or war cry to persevere.”

With It Comes Back ready to be unleashed into the wild, Jean Paul Jean Paul are already looking ahead to releasing more new music, likely sooner rather than later. The band has found a new collective gear as the chemistry amongst its six members flourishes both in the studio and on stage.

“As much fun as writing this last record has been, we’re already working on the next one,” declares drummer Andy Gelb. “We’ve got some fun new genres and musical ideas we want to tackle, and we can’t wait to start intertwining these new riffs in our live set.”

Don’t sleep on Jean Paul Jean Paul. Then again, they simply will not let us.

Jean Paul Jean Paul

Official webpage for Boston indie alt-rock band Jean Paul Jean Paul

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