Janet Gardner & Justin James are back mid coronavirus with their aptly-named third album ‘Synergy’ out on August 7th. They do say the third time’s a charm, but in truth so were the first and second times for this wonderful pairing.
I was lucky enough to catch up with Janet and Justin back in March when they visited Australia before the world changed. At the time they told me they had started working on the album back in January and hoped to finish it up when they got home. As it happened they got back to the US only a couple of days before we closed the borders down here. They told me it would be special and they were right.
As much as I loved Janet’s solo debut in 2017, I loved 2019’s ‘Your Place in the Sun’ more – those two albums she created with partner Justin James really do contain some of the most enjoyable Hard Rock I’ve heard in the last few years but this third release – this time billed as Gardner/James, remarkably is the best yet.
What I loved about the first two releases was that Janet and Justin weren’t afraid to mix it up and there was plenty of variety to keep things fresh, and it’s the same here.
Opener ‘Wounded’, the first single which hopefully you’ve all heard and seen by now, has a wonderful mix of elements that come together beautifully, from the hard rocking drive of the main riff and very 80’s chorus, to some great layered vocals, a cool solo and some little licks of guitar that remind you of George Lynch. It’s a party of a song that really gets this one started.
‘You Can Kiss This’ that follows is angrier – sporting a great melody and a spiky riff, it’s a bouncy song that is very ‘in your face’, a modern rocker with a fiery solo and chanted chorus; and a great segue to one of my early favourites, ‘Rise Up’. ‘Rise Up’ is huge, and opens up with heavy drums then heavy guitar and has a sprawling bluesy riff and tone that has a little Kenny Wayne Shepherd about it, it also has a wonderful ‘rise’ to the solo that plays with a Beatles-like vibe before a chorus that sounds almost like a 90’s take on Bad Company. I love it, and it feels like an anthem when Janet hits that chorus!
‘Running to Her’ really lightens things up before soaring towards a chorus, it’s a wonderfully bittersweet song in tone and has some lovely Pop elements to it, but like a lot here it’s got some lovely moments -like the vocal passage before the bright blue sky solo that really sets it off. It’s a little quirky and another song that lets you know that these guys are never going to be boring.’Lonely We Fight’ (the second video) has a light psychedelic tread that raises a smile when you hear it against the riff driven thrust of the song and what could have been a rather straight forward rocker in other hands takes on a whole other aspect, not least with the lyric and fan photo sideshow showing the world in lock-down.
And it just keeps on giving! ‘Say You Will’ starts with Janet on piano, it’s a moody song that has a feel akin to the sort of latter-day ballads bands like Def Leppard lay down so well, but with an almost Beatlesque lilt that adds a nice twist before the solo, which like all of the solos here captures the spirit of the song so well.
That is closely followed by ‘I Promise’ which just nails that guitar sound that makes you feel it’s all going to be alright. It’s a great song with a wonderful Pop cherry on top courtesy of a killer chorus. And ‘On a Wire’ is just as killer but a completely different vibe – it’s a song that has a lot going on. Starting off with a searching vocal settled on a bed or airy guitar, it grows more teeth as it goes before falling back again to the guitars . It’s a song driven by the vocal but softly smothered in all kinds of good things! It’s probably the song that’s hardest to put your finger on sonically but one of the most rewarding here.
And as you might expect if you’ve been keeping an eye on these guys we close out in some real style: ‘Gone’ has that Bluesy flavour again and plenty of fire, a real party of a song hung on a chunky riff that kicks up another gear for the chorus. It might even be the most straightforward song here but its also one of my favourites.
That just leaves us with two more. And we slow right down again for ‘Flying on Faith’ a moody number that has a great lyric and wonderful uneasy feel, before it lifts in the pre-chorus , then lifts again in the chorus. It’s a layer-cake of a song, accented by drums and little keyboard stabs, and just as you feel the guitar is going to crash in instead it falls back to the refrain keeping you waiting just that little longer. It’s one that gets better with each listen.
The final word goes to ‘Talk To Myself’ a cool quirky rocker that’s almost Pop Punk meets Rock and Roll in flavour. To me it sounds just like a song that could have been plucked from The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ with a vocal that I can just picture Columbia belting out now! It’s great fun and a remarkable way to close a remarkable album. Is it the best from this pair? I’m still torn between this and ‘Your Place in the Sun’, and if you knew how much I loved that last record you’d know what a big call that is.
One you must hear.
9/10
Track List for Synergy: 01. Wounded | 02. You Can Kiss This | 03. Rise Up | 04. Running To Her | 05. Lonely We Fight | 06. Say You Will | 07. I Promise | 08. On A Wire | 09. Gone | 10. Flying On Faith | 11. Talk To Myself
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