Review: Jarvis Church, Shake It Off

Church wears his influences on his sleeve, but it’s not clear what planet he’s actually from.

Jarvis Church, Shake It OffJarvis Church, the artist formerly known as Gerald Eaton (half of Track & Field, the Grammy-nominated production duo behind Nelly Furtado’s breakout Whoa, Nelly!) is, according to Furtado, a Jamaican “Marvin Gaye from Mars.” Much like Furtado’s debut, Church’s Shake It Off features an assortment of sonic flavors—from hip-hop and R&B to pop and rock—woven together in a bristly collage of trip-hop and reggae rhythms. Furtado guests as a psychotic stripper on the narrative “Fine Line,” while fellow Toronto native and Furtado sound-a-like Esthero assumes the role of an obsessive fan on the kitschy, brass-infused “Run for Your Life.” The album is a bit over-produced (the quirky hip-hop track “Forgive Me” is like the Neptunes on Pop Rocks) and breaks little ground, but Church puts a twist on even conventional pop and R&B (“That Old Love Song” mixes classic-sounding guitars solos with subtle turntable scratches and organ flourishes; the tropical “She’s in Love with You” hits your skin like an electronic puff of air). Though catchy, the album’s title track isn’t the most ideal lead single; Church, who comes off like a second-rate Prince—or, even worse, a second-rate Maxwell—makes much better use of his falsetto and retro sensibility on songs like the funky “Who Will Be Your Man.” But aside from a couple of borderline tacky lyrics (he sings “Spin me ‘round like a DVD” on “So Amazing,” the most mundane of the album’s 13 tracks), Shake It Off provides enough evidence for Furtado’s gushing claim: Church wears his influences on his sleeve, but it’s not clear what planet he’s actually from.

Score: 
 Label: RCA  Release Date: July 24, 2002  Buy: Amazon

Sal Cinquemani

Sal Cinquemani is the co-founder and co-editor of Slant Magazine. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Village Voice, and others. He is also an award-winning screenwriter/director and festival programmer.

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