By chance, I heard on the radio, an interview with JD McPherson, together with a sample of his singing.
He basically re-plows the furrow of rhythm & blues, but with a scholar’s exactness; and he channels his black masters (this Oklahoma whiteboy) with impeccable intelligence and artistry. His delivery matches that of any of them; albeit, half a century too late.
What caught my attention, though, was the title of his album: “Signs & Signifiers”. Anyone who has ever attended an MLA convention will instantly recognize this phrase as semiotic ingroup-speak. Thus, more than merely retro, his exhuming, or re-imagining, is itself an exercise in meta, or even faux-naif.
No comments:
Post a Comment