Eamon – No Matter the Season

The feature album this week on 2SER is the 4th album from Staten Island native, Eamon.

Eamon has had a long and varied journey across various styles of soul music. He is probably best remembered to the wider world for his single hit as a 20 year old from 2003, “Fuck it, I don’t want you back“. However, clearly a music lifer he has continued to push himself as an artist in numerous directions  in the two decades since.

Recorded in Southern California, this represents a continues evolution in his sound and has hit on a rich seam of music-writing.

This is a refined combination of dusty soul and afrobeat samples mostly lifted from the Now-Again records reissue catalogue. Dipping into influences including southern Rhythm and Blues, Gospel and West African rock, the overall outcome of this is more than a collage.

Working with LA-Based production duo Likeminds, No Matter the Season seamlessly combines these samples with live production (drumming, horns). While (relatively) well known tracks appear and are clearly sampled and present in the mix, at no point does this sound like anything less than a flawless cover version. For an example, check out Amanaz’s Easy Street being sampled on “Bury the Bones”.

It’s a real technical feat, and meanwhile Eamon’s impassioned vocals are evocative of some of the greats of late 60s and early 70s soul movement, such as O.C Tolbert, Gene Chandler and Baby Huey. And the album overall is an extraordinary combination of modern production and classic aesthetics.

Out now on vinyl and digital on Now-Again Records