Kantant tal-Indie Rock J. Mamana Jannunzja 'For Every Set of Eyes' LP mal-ewwel single "Hope Saved July"

Għal Kull Set ta' Għajnejn, it-tieni album full-length ta' J. Mamana (li ser joħroġ fil-23 ta' Awwissu, 2024, permezz ta' Holy Family), joħroġ b'mod luminuż minn perjodu ta' erba' snin ta' gwerra u diżillużjoni għall-kantawtur, li jġorr il-marki li għamlu d-debut tiegħu ta' interess kritiku u kult.

Recorded with Seth Manchester (Lingua Ignota, Model/Actriz, Mdou Moctar) and mastered by Heba Kadry (Björk, Big Thief, Cass McCombs), Mamana ornaments his songs with contrapuntal strings, mournful horns, bilious vocal harmonies, ecclesiastical synths, and plunked piano and classical guitar. The arrangements are a testament to Mamana’s attention to detail — it literally opens with a fugue for string quartet — evincing his “talent, vision, ambition, [and] precocity,” to quote Jayson Greene’s Pitchfork review of his debut, Nothing New in the West, but now with a refinement that comes from patience, effort, practice, and time.

If Nothing New concerned itself with the sweep of history, then For Every Set of Eyes peers inward at the singer. The stories Mamana tells on this record are, broadly speaking, autobiographical, and they concern the sudden death of his best friend to overdose at age 26 and the subsequent end of his four-year relationship.

M'hiex b'xejn li Mamana semma dan ir-rekord wara testu mill-kanzuneta ta' Neil Young On the Beach ("Qatt ma kont naf raġel/li setgħa jgħid tant bużżieqi/ Kellu storja differenti/għal kull sett ta' għajnejn"). Jekk Highway 61 Revisited kien ir-referenza ewlenija għall-ewwel LP tiegħu, issa "Ditch Trilogy" ta' Young, bi ċpar, arja ta' desperazzjoni, u umor iswed, hija l-antenat spiritwali tiegħu.

Ħafna artisti għamlu reġistrazzjonijiet ta' kriżi, Mamana jiddikjara, u ma sarux aħjar minħabba fihom. Minflok ma jgħerrqu, Mamana saħħaħ li juża dan ir-reġistrazzjoni biex jesplora kif telf ta' ħajja u telf ta' twemmin spiss jiġu solvuti, iżda, fil-verità, bil-ħuzna, iżda ukoll b'weirdness li tmiss mal-traskendenti.