Friday July 2, 2021
The new release by Australian singer-songwriter Jai Larkan is an impressive example of local indie pop-rock at its finest.Only Love is the title track from his forthcoming three-song EP, released worldwide on July 23, 2021.
As a member of popular folk-rock band The Wishing Well, Jai’s experience includes over 660 concert appearances, four albums, supporting artists including Bob Geldof, Andy White, and Tim Finn, sharing festival stages with David Gray, James Morrison, Seal and Joss Stone, and selling over 60,000 albums.
Only Love is a pop-rock song whose driving feel and expressive power is palpable. As Jai says about the origins of the song, ‘Only Love was written in the month following a separation and beginning of a divorce. It was one of those songs that lyrically and melodically came very quickly. Fortunately, which I think is the power of music, putting these substantial and heavy feelings into a song makes them more palatable, relatable and something you even want to sing along with. I don’t like remembering these times at all, but I love singing the song.
Some kind of emotional alchemy it seems.’ Reminiscent of artists such as Ryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, and Hosier, Only Love utilises classic rock sensibilities and blends them with a stirring vocal performance, melodic hooks, and a full expansive sound. As Jai says about his songwriting process, ‘I always begin with a musical idea first, played either on acoustic guitar or piano. Get inspired to sing to that. Come up with a vocal melody I like.
Some words fall into place quickly within those melodies. Then I spend the next days, months or sometimes years finishing the lyrics and the song arrangement.’ Only Love is a new track but sounds refreshingly vital, like the kind of track you’ll still be hearing many years from now.
