JONATHAN RICHMAN - Only Frozen Sky Anyway (2025)
It had been since the days when Seu Jorge took on David Bowie that I hadn’t come across something that, on first listen, made me ask: is this genuine or just playing around? Only Frozen Sky Anyway, at first glance, is tedious, it comes off as silly, shallow, honestly one of those records that, if it were a physical copy, you’d toss out or hand to a stranger at Christmas during an awkward group bingo. Then you give it another spin and begin to question whether the worth of music resides not in its production, but in that intricate and tangled mix of experiences each person brings. So you figure perhaps this album marks you as a listener with a taste for irony... and then realize that, regardless, it actually sounds pretty good and was likely designed and produced with expertise... and you catch yourself to smile without laugh with Jonathan Richman over the song choices and covers... But soon enough the hype fades, you stop the album, and chances are you won’t revisit it. Ultimately, just one comment remains, simply to prove that, after all, you truly do listen to anything because you’re open to the world of music.