Jehst – Mork Calling Orson [YNR]

‘Mork Calling Orson‘ is Jehst‘s sixth album reaching a typically supreme standard of syllables and similes bearing a red-eyed hue. Featuring the tracks ‘Daily Planet‘, ‘Lonely World‘, the BBC 6 Music-playlisted ‘One Horse Town‘, ‘Wild Herb‘ and ‘Autumn Nights‘, and with Confucius MC, Eva Lazarus, Lee Scott, CW Jones and Sindysman guesting, Jehst continues to unlock his superpower of making the melancholic incisively slice through all before him.

His partiality for provocative references to the fore, and sloganeering that, “you hear the voice of God when I rock the mic“, “Jehst for president” and “I’m Nas in that ‘Illmatic’ phase” without either irony or pretence, ‘Mork Calling Orson’ begins as drowsy, clouded and dry-mouthed, occasionally letting light peer through the curtains, otherwise at peace with self-imposed exile (“ain’t no sunshine, regardless of climate change“). Soundbites of Robin Williams are interspersed with namechecks of Audio Two, Vanilla Ice, Daley Thompson, Mayor Quimby and Aloe Blacc, and Keor Meteor and Beat Butcha provide subtleties of assistance on production.

The classically 90s, NYC beats of ‘Footsteps‘, and ‘Lonely World‘ mutedly following its lead, have Jehst rising up, alert to self-examination and the outside world. Returning to familiar sticky green comforts on the G-funked ‘Wild Herb‘, is a trigger for the album to find strength and leave its shell, with the subsequent ‘Doctor‘ and soft rock lineage of ‘Daily Planet‘ and ‘Flight to LA‘ allowing for streams of consciousness and the sort of word association and reactions to reality that have been Jehst’s hallmark for four decades.

The lullaby of the BBC 6 Music playlisted ‘One Horse Town’ is the album’s centrepiece, gently ascending and fighting any previous pessimism, before Jehst retreats behind the ‘Front Door‘ and on the graceful ‘Skyline‘; a fractured soul conflicting his previous status of “mentally irate, physically primate“, stays eloquently, edgily tack-sharp to the last.

Since experiencing pre-millennium ‘Premonitions‘, Jehst has been lauded by The Guardian, the NME and Clash Magazine for his longevity and leadership at the top of the UK Hip Hop scene, sustained by his ever dependable YNR imprint releasing essential material from Kashmere, Cappo and Verb T, his last LP, 2017’s ‘Billy Green is Dead‘, was certified as “a qualified triumph” by The Wire.

2021 saw Jehst make guest appearances on Confucius MC’s ‘Somewhere‘ LP, and Kid Acne’s ‘Null and Void‘ album, subsequently keeping home fires burning in 2022 with spots on tracks from Luna-C, Onoe Caponoe and Tom Caruana.

Jehst

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YNR

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Track List:

1. Cornerstone
2. You featuring Lee Scott
3. Footsteps
4. Lonely World featuring CW Jones & SINDYSMAN
5. Wild Herb
6. Doctor
7. Daily Planet featuring Confucius MC
8. Flight to LA
9. Autumn Nights featuring Confucius MC
10. One Horse Town featuring Confucius MC & Eva Lazarus
11. Front Door
12. Skyline