Back in January, I wrote about what I wanted and looked forward to in music for 2025. Sitting at the top of that list was new music from JER. It’s been 3 years since their phenomenal debut album, Bothered/ Unbothered, was released- and it rapidly became one of my absolute favorite albums. Before going into this new album, it’s worth taking another look at the debut album. First, the album contained a wide range of influences, including a unique blend of ska and hip-hop at times. The first five songs on the album shared a common theme of “Bothered” and focused largely on social issues, racial discrimination, capitalism, intersectionality of oppression, and colonialism. The last five tracks shared a theme of being “Unbothered”- personal growth, learning to love yourself, and building community- exuding a hopefulness that we will overcome.
Unsurprisingly, the new album is loaded with a broad range of influences. The overall album is probably best described as ska-punk, but it’s loaded up with reggae, two-tone, hip-hop, skacore and hardcore, midwest emo and rap- and I don’t mean to suggest that you can detect elements of these genres, but that they are often the dominant theme of the song with ska elements being the glue that holds everything together.
That said, the album begins with “I’m still bothered” – a response to the previous album. Bothered/ Unbothered ended with the idea of focusing on yourself and not letting things drag you down- especially with “Nobody Can Dull My Sparkle”. The beginning of Death of the Heart questions that narrative. The beginning lyric for the entire album is “I don’t know why I’m feeling this way, one day I’m so unbothered and I feel like complete shit the next day”- and then goes on to describe the rise of fascism, genocide, global warming, and exploitation through capitalism being ever-present and constantly wearing them down. The next verse introduces the theme of this album- “Is nobody really fazed, no blood pressure being raised, watching fascists being praised? Demonize communities and shrug it off, it won’t be me”. If the album were essays, this would be their foreshadowing and the thesis statement- right at the beginning. It’s not an accident. Musically, it’s a great song to start an album, too. Solid ska punk, great horns as always, and a good hip-hop flow to the vocals to set the mood and get you dancing. This is the sound that best defines JER and the album; even though the album has a broad range, this is the point that everything evolves from or returns to.
The thesis statement from the last song is fully encapsulated by the next track “The Way You Tune It Out”- which has an amazing breakdown and is justifiably one of the singles from the album with its incredible bridge and catchy lyrics about tuning out the problems of society such as the ongoing climate catastrophe for the sake of corporate profits and convenience- but if you missed it through the lyrics of the first two songs, the point really drives home in the sample at the end of this track. A quote from American activist and Civil Rights leader James Baldwin’s “I am not your Negro”- “I’m terrified at the moral apathy – the death of the heart- which is happening in my country. These people have deluded themselves for so long that they really don’t think I’m human. And I base this on their conduct, not on what they say, and this means that they have become in themselves moral monsters”. Thus, the title of the album- Death of the Heart, has been established.
“Couldn’t be me” is a slower reggae-type track about leopards eating faces in quite different words, the expansion of fascism, and a nice chorus about not doing politics, but politics always doing you- how tuning out the problems only leaves you unprepared for when the problem becomes inescapable. “Silence is Violence” intros as one of the more ska punk tracks on the album, led by thick bass lines with a beautiful, slower bridged dominated by beautiful keys, and devastating lyrics like “our morals wither away just like the children” and “tired of seeing the bodies on your timeliness, I’m sure they’re tired too”.
The middle of the album features “Capitalism Breeds Devastation”- the most hip-hop influenced song on the album with guest Linqua Franqa. The title speaks for the subject of the song, another lyrical assault on capitalism, leading to genocide, global warming, and ecological destruction, with a powerful tension-building chant of greed that leads through the final third of the song. “What will you do?” is a hardcore/skacore track that features vocals that feel spoken word, which question how far things need to go before you speak up. How much does genocide need to impact you before you act? “Cult of the Lonely” features Emily Williams on vocals for the chorus and Adam Davis of Omnigone in a heavy East Bay Ska Core verse as the themes continue, but this time calling out American exceptionalism and indifference specifically.
The final third of the album begins with the title track, which has such an incredible syncopated pulsing rhythm, captures so much anger in largely upbeat rhythms, and features themes of screaming into a void, seeing the world being destroyed, raising voices, and being ignored as apathy and indifference allow it all to happen- and the horns at the end raising powerfully, but to no avail. The alarm went off, but nobody answered the call.
“Claim Yr True Feelings, Wounded Child” is a Midwest emo song, with horns, but no real ska. Slow, beautiful, heart-breakingly sad. Subtle backing vocals make it even more heartbreaking. A window into a tragic backstory about how hurtful words carry with us forever, set to tragic music that stops you in your tracks.
“Trying, I really am” feels like another revisit to Bothered/ Unbothered- another ska punk track with catchy rhythms about trying to be unbothered, but never quite being able to reach happiness with too much weighing on the soul and mind. “I’d like to be better” takes this idea even further- faster, more upbeat, a dedication to self-improvement. More beautiful ska rhythms, keys, and saxophone draw through the song, but it’s about hope for the first time.
“Log Off” identifies a part of the problem and begs to abandon algorithms and echo chambers and build actual community, to grow, to have real conversations towards growth and not message and response.
The final song on the album, “Grow Through What We Go Through,” is a beautiful closing. “We’re not so different, but to be indifferent is something I think we should let go” is such a beautiful line. “To be understanding is not so demanding”. The final song is a plea for us to act with intention, to stop being indifferent to the suffering of others, and to have compassion. We’re not so different, and if we grow together, we can make a difference. We don’t need to be moral monsters. We can be better.
I know this review focused almost exclusively on the lyrical content. The music is phenomenal. The drums and bass guitar were wonderful. The trombone, saxophone, and keys literally blow me away in different songs. The guitars layer out terrific upstrokes throughout that album, and everything is so danceable, but at the same time, this album feels like a well-structured essay in song form, begging us to pay attention and act, and I couldn’t help but focus on that message.
JER is going to be on tour throughout the American Midwest in mid-September, plus a few dates in Canada, then, the last week of September in Florida, before going to Japan for a handful of dates in early October. Be sure to head to the skatunenetwork website for dates and tickets. JER tries to have all shows be all ages, because everyone deserves the right to hear ska music, and people need positive role models, and access to punk and ska should not be gatekept.
Written by Gimp Leg
