Jon and Roy - I Can Dream

For their most recent EP I Can Dream, Canada’s Jon and Roy decided to steer away from the digital technology that has taken over the music industry and instead recorded on tape, resulting in a collection of tunes that are warm and more intimate sounding.  Opener “Maywell” was inspired by what has now become an annual winter hike to a rustic cabin in the mountains that was built by a man with that same name. It’s a captivating track of briskly paced folk rock with Jon Middleton’s fragile vocals and during the second half of the song the wonderful addition of horns.  “Waves Of Pleasure” is a jaunty folk rock track with a bounce that will have you swaying along, while “More Than I Can Dream” is a beautiful love song that’s slow and stripped down with a powerful, emotional vocal performance.  Bookended by two instrumentals, the easygoing, rootsy reggae-beat driven “Part One” and the slow, hypnotic closing track “Part Two,” is the lazy surf rock track “Make This Darkness Bright, which is enhanced brilliantly with horns and is reminiscent of Jack Johnson.  Unfortunately, at just over twenty-three minutes, the EP ends too quickly, but thankfully it is one that will have you hitting repeat over and over.  

(Blue Heron Music)