The free, but unfortunately not creative commons licensed, release Notes from Number 14, is an 11 track pop album. The album covers many common themes in pop, but deals mainly with relationships with people and such themes like redemption, beauty and the like. The production of the album is definitely top notch with nice, refined instrumentation. There are stylings of synthpop, electronica and soft rock all throughout the album making things more interesting than a straight up pop album.

But, it is not the most straightforward of pop albums. Lyrically, it’s a bit complex as I wasn’t really able to get what John was trying to say in most tracks after an initial first listen. There are some catchy chorus sections here and there but I can’t really remember any of the verses. That’s not to say that every song is lyrically complex and vague. Luckily, one can easily find appreciation in songs with familiar and easy themes such as Breathe You In, Wake Up to Your Beautiful Self and the almost lullaby like I Won’t Let Them Hurt You. In a pop context, I felt that the album suffers from an identity crisis lyric-wise trying to be too complicated in quite a number of songs for most pop listeners.

With that said, I’m a believer that truly long lasting music shouldn’t be too straightforward but still leads you on in some way. The vagueness and applicability to different situations makes it worth listening to again while the familiarity firmly grounds the song in your mind. Songs like Slide With Me and Water Falls fit into the above criteria.

In Slide With Me, self-retrospective lyrics are coupled with vague references to another person who we never really get a full explanation of. This, and a bridge and coda section with old school hard rock guitar solos really sealed the deal.

Water Falls, on the other hand, is an upbeat song with lyrics of amusing almost self-deprecating nature. You never really get the point of what John was trying to say as a whole but you just really go for the ride because it’s fun.

Other than the brighter sounding songs mentioned, there are also some songs in the album covering darker themes. The one I found most appealing was One Hell of a Time. It had that really synthy feel to it together with a moving chorus section.

To wrap it up, this is an album best listened to closely. There’s material here that is really worth listening to over and over again. If you like the album, do support John in his commercial endeavours. You can find his commercial 6 track EP release Preparations here.

Thanks to Hannah for recommending John’s music to us.