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There are going to be an awful lot of people who are very happy that One Long Song is finally available, and most of those people will have seen the film Wedding Crashers. Jont's song Sweetheart was the plaintive song playing over the end credits, but for some reason was unavailable on the official soundtrack.
Rather cannily, Jont has put Sweetheart right at the end of his debut EP, meaning that most people will still have to listen to the rest of the EP before they come to the song they really want to hear. Although you can still skip to the end of the record (or even just download Sweetheart), those who do will be missing out on 20 minutes of beautifully melancholic folky pop. There are only six tracks here, but the EP beautifully welcomes us into Jont's world - and it's a world well worth living in.
Fans of Badly Drawn Boy and Coldplay will feel right at home here. Yet Jont is much more than 'the new Coldplay' - there's a quirky and experimental edge mixed with a radio-friendly sound that bodes well for his long-term future. Opening track You Can Be The Stars begins with atmospheric keyboard effects, before Jont's warm, rich voice kicks in, leading up to an anthemic chorus and unusual chord changes that keep the song fresh. Anyone who fell in love with Athlete's Vehicles And Animals will find much to love here.
Can't Turn The Sea Off is another highlight, with its slightly harsh keyboard effects mixed with a genuinely uplifting melody, while if Caught Out In The Rain was sung by Chris Martin, it'd be a number one single. The fragile piano chords, and Jont's emotional vocal make this the perfect song to snuggle up with as the long winter nights take their hold.
The song which anyone who saw Wedding Crashers will want though is Sweetheart, and with good reason. Quite simply, Sweetheart is one of those perfect little pop songs. There's nothing revolutionary about it, and some may even describe it as cliched, but it's got a warmth and a tenderness about it that should appeal to all but the most cynical. The wistful chorus sticks in the mind long after the song finishes, and if James Blunt's You're Beautiful can take over the charts for months on end, this deserves to do equally as well.
This may be too short a record with which to judge Jont, but it's enough to show that he's already head and shoulders above his contemporaries. An excellent 20 minutes that bodes well for Jont's full length album, whenever that may be with us.
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