By John Faussemagne
On Through the Wall, Rochelle Jordan creates a club classic meant for the dimly lit late nights. I don’t mean the songs you’d hear playing at your favorite club as the night begins to wind down, because this is music for the party you head to when everyone else is Ubering home.
Arriving four years after her previous album, Play with the Changes, Rochelle has spent this time meticulously creating and polishing this album to perfection. Sonically, it mixes elements of deep house, garage, and R&B seamlessly. Every song here is meant to be danced to, but in an almost hypnotic way. I want to hear it when I am almost too tired to stay out for the night, but still holding onto someone closely in a dark club room illuminated by soft blue LEDs. The first song exemplifying this is “Ladida.” The song enters with synths that are reminiscent of a Korg M1, a synthesizer that helped forge many ’90s house classics like “Show Me Love” by Robin S and “Gypsy Woman” by Crystal Waters. Unlike these classics, though, the synths seem to be slightly too late, or too early, but this is much to the song’s benefit. It feels spellbinding and brings me in. Peaking through the synth are the cracks of a vinyl, and eventually, drums slowly filter in. The disjointedness of the synth hits allows the drums to come in a unique way so that by the time Rochelle starts rapping, you’re already entranced.
“Met KLSH back in ’09’ in around
Threw me beats and I just hit em out.”
KLSH is in reference to who we have to thank for this beat. KLSH (pronounced clash) is Rochelle’s creative partner who has been executive producer for all of her projects. He is her DJ and just as big a part of this album as Rochelle. When the chorus kicks in, the song has the feeling of an instant house classic. It feels so nostalgic that I’m almost convinced this song was released 25 years ago, and like the movie “Yesterday,” I am the only person who remembers Rochelle Jordan. This track is also a great example of how seamlessly the album combines different styles of dance. The pops on the vinyl, along with the softly played Korg and saxophone sample, are classically deep house, while the drums are prototypical UK garage.
The follow-up, “Sum,” brings in the alternative R&B sound Rochelle has perfected while KLSH keeps it very danceable. The vocal performance here by Rochelle is outstanding as she sings about turning down an ex-lover and showing him what he is missing out on. She knows he doesn’t truly want her, in reality:
“You just want some,
Cause it’s better than none.”
While dance music is known mainly for how it can make you dance, which leads to not as much focus on the lyrics, Rochelle truly cares about her words, which helps to create a beautiful atmosphere. One of my favorite moments on the album comes midway through this song, where it seemingly comes to an end before a chant slowly emerges asking for “one more time.” In the second half of this song, KLSH mixes the chant into the beat in a way that I have never heard before, and overlays it with a sample of Rochelle’s singing. I almost feel like I am there, chanting along.
“Never Enough” is a song that I actually find myself chanting along to with every listen. Rochelle shows off her talent by finding unique ways to approach how she builds upon her singing. While the chorus in itself is catchy, the vocal performance she gives on the second half of each chorus is nothing short of enchanting. Especially when she changes the lyrics to:
“It’s never enough for you.
Every little win I lose”
I can feel my body stop dancing for a minute just to hear her pour her heart out.
While the album contains some of the best dance hits this decade, Rochelle also released the best alternative R&B song I have heard in a while with “Bite the Bait.” It’s also maybe the sexiest song this year. Rochelle casts a line and gives just enough intimacy away, drawing you towards the bait, without flaunting it too much, so that you’d become uninterested. The album truly stands out because of its little moments and attention to detail. Near the end, there’s a small electronic breakdown that almost gives you a sense of release from the story that Rochelle has been dangling in front of you.
My only real qualm with the album comes with the following song, “On 2 Something.” Not even the song as a whole, as I still truly did enjoy the song, but the drums just feel a tad out of place. There’s more than a fair share of jersey club with repeating claps that bring me away from the atmosphere that has been built up throughout the album. Near the end, it seems like it is about to transition into a breakbeat — which would’ve been cool but instead opts to keep the pounding drums through the end of the song.
Outside of that song, midway through, the album is truly stellar and one of the best this year. My favorite track comes near the end with “I’m Your Muse.” The song embodies so much about deep house as a genre. It’s filtered down with little synth hits breaking up the silence. The drums give you a four-on-the-floor to keep tempo, but stays soft enough to allow other elements to shine. Rochelle herself is giving an almost erotic performance that sits somewhere between love and desperation. When I talk about the late-night, almost morning feeling this album gives me, there is no better embodiment than this track. It’s the type of song you want to hear as the club is closing. Almost everyone has left except you and your date, and no one could break apart the moment you’re having.
With Through The Wall, Rochelle Jordan continues to dive deeper into a dancier world than the one shown on her previous release. Unlike Play With The Changes, Rochelle is much more focused and fuses different worlds together to create an atmosphere that I never want to leave.
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