Emoticon Dawn 'Jump'
Aw, now. I’m not a big one for Valentine’s Day [as sponsored by Hallmark] but I’m no love grinch either. So here is a beautiful love poem, a quiet elegy, a sad and exquisite ode to joy.
The first single off Canadian duo Emoticon Dawn‘s upcoming EP, Jump: “If you had one last chance to talk to the person you love the most, what would you say?”
Emoticon Dawn is musician/composer Arlen Yanch and poet Ian Keteku. Out of Toronto, they describe themselves as a conversation between the classic and contemporary. Marrying hip hop with orchestral moods. Arlen’s roots in Ghana West Africa infuse the music. Keteku is a classy wordsmith, 2010 World Poetry Slam Champion and maker of this fine album Lessons From Planet Earth (Re-Evolution) back in 2011.
Romantic, unashamedly. No flowers required. Perhaps a rose in the pocket.
I think this is the greatest compliment I could give to a spoken word album, to be honest: that it can be listened to and that it can also just be heard. It doesn't demand close difficult attention, but invites it. It is music that is as lovely to listen to as any folk music I tend to want to hear on a lazy Saturday afternoon. And it is also storytelling, as rewarding as any novel.