Jordan Krimston

“It’s about doing anything that feels right” is the thesis laid out by Jordan Krimston in the opening moments of his third and best album, Count It All Joy. Krimston’s gotten awfully good at doing just that; his past two records introduce us to an artist with a rock-solid map of the melodic and textural turf he feels comfortable in, but every moment of Joy finds him expanding its boundaries, swaggering through like he owns the place.

Dialing up the complexity without giving into overindulgence, this tight 9-song collection finds Krimston drawing influence from sources as disparate as shambling jazzy math rock (“Rainbows”) and the nonchalant vocal cadences of Drain Gang (“Mtn. Decoy”). His well-documented skill at crafting glittering power-pop hooks is still evident—see “Line in the Middle”—but they’re breezier than ever here, like he no longer needs to prove anything in that department. Joy’s sound palette also feels a touch more playful, all scintillating guitar twinkles and pitch-shifted blips that brighten the already-crisp songwriting.

As in much of his other work, Krimston’s endless fascination toward the act of songwriting provides fuel for the lyrics as well as the music itself: “To sow the seeds we kill the expectation,” he sings on “Mtn. Decoy.” Indeed, Count It All Joy’s approach tends toward careful abstraction—the tunes here are lovable and immediate, but blurred by tasteful doses of weirdness and slippage, ideas explored without pretension. From the album’s first moments, it’s obvious that this is the music Krimston has wanted to make all along. “I guess I must have done something good,” he continues on the aforementioned opener “Good Time”—he needn’t be so humble.


-Skyler Pia