You may know him from LA when he was a frequent guest guitarist with Cubensis. You may be familiar with him as a member of Midnight North with Graham Lesh, son of Grateful Dead bass player, Phil Lesh. We now get a chance to know Alex Jordan as solo artist with his debut release, “The Subtle Exhibitionist.” Recorded over and 18 month period in San Anselmo, CA , the album features ten tracks which span several genres.
“I wanted to collect several snap-shots of periods in my life. Be it the road, failed relationships, and the frustrations with myself and others, I feel these songs capture things we’ve all felt in our early years of independence and self discovery.”
Alex Jordan
I received a copy of the new album and sat down and gave it a listen.
After a few plays, the soul of The Subtle Exhibitionist, begins to present itself. The SF Country sound of New Riders of the Purple Sage comes through strong on “I Know I’ll Be OK” and “Subtle Exhibition” but that doesn’t define this as “country album.” The Paul Simon-esque overtones on “To Be Whole” and “’til We Are Gone” are clear but that doesn’t mean this is a “NY folk rock” album. Nor do the Lou Reed ala Transformer vibes on “It’s Cool” define the whole as an existential introspective. This album is more than the sum of it’s parts. I truly miss the days when an artist thinks about someone sitting down, dropping the needle on Track 1/Side 1 and letting it play through. Jordan clearly had that in mind as he created a musical journey through his artistic influences from start to finish. On this album, Jordan is clearly showing us who he is and where he came from, both musically and lyrically and you can take that journey without once wanting to hit “skip”.
Track Listing
- Your Kingdom Comes With A View
- I Know I’ll Be Ok
- Golden Land
- It’s Cool
- To Be Whole
- California In My Eyes
- ’til We Are Gone
- Makuahine
- Smile At Me
- Subtle Exhibition
