Azizzi Romeo – Jah Send The Rain – Review

Azizzi Romeo Jah Send The Rain Review by Mr Topple for Pauzeradio.com.

Roots royalty has entered the Pauzeradio vinyl shop as a 7″ vinyl, in the form Of Azizzi Romeo – yes, Max Romeo’s son. That’s quite a legacy for ‘Romeo the Younger’ to live up to – but fortunately, he does.

Jah Send The Rain, released via Tribe 84, sees Romeo and the Guiding Star Orchestra get guidance from producers Chllngr and Morten McCoy across a track where the mastering is highly slick and effective – making a truly sonic experience, and that’s without the music.

The composition is heavy, to say the least. It feels almost Zion I Kings in its richness and intricacy, delivering a stylish Roots sound in droves. Traditional elements are of course present – with the bass winding around on a dotted note-heavy riff that barely stops for breath as its rounded tone works fairly high up its register.

Keys are across a bubble rhythm that persistently sits across the track, but with occasional flashes of Dub-like reverb. Drums perform a one drop of sorts, with the kick hitting the two and four – but here, the snare hits the down beats (unusually) while hi-hats tinker dotted note riffs in between – along with some pleasing military-style buzz rolls at points across the snare.

The horn section is highly elegant and regal, here. It runs an intricate arrangement that is as expressive as it is complex. Running almost its own vocal line, the composition sees a melody filled with long-then-short notes, excellent employment of dynamics to create interest, and some haunting use of vibrato.

Across the track, there’s some excellent use of breaks for the instrumentation, which fit perfectly with Romeo’s vocal to accentuate it – giving the listener real light and shade.

Overall, this means Jah Send The Rain is a fascinating composition – perfect for an impressive vocalist to work with.

Romeo is superb. He has a tenor voice that singjays, then vocalises, perfectly across the complex arrangement. While his delivery in terms of dynamics is fairly static, melodically and rhythmically it isn’t. On the latter he mixes his performance up with some quiet brilliant stanzas that reach an impressive rate of knots in terms of syllable count per second. Melodically, he has delivered a varied melody that works up and down his range and keeps you as a listener thoroughly engaged. It’s a quite brilliant performance that’s highly impressive.

Lyrically, Romeo has then created a stirring narrative that not only sings praises to Jah, but also expresses the qualities and benefits of a Rastafari life as opposed to those living complicity under Babylon’s system: “when there is a drought, first they cover their mouth” is pertinent right now. And Romeo has created an expressive and thoughtful story that weaves across the track.

Side B has the Dub from legendary Roberto Sanchez. Here, the pace is picked up thanks to the addition of a kick line on a double four-to-the-floor at points. The use of extra synths is quite brilliant, and the way that Romeo’s vocal weaves in and out, along with the keys, is magical. Sanchez is the current master of the Dub – and here, he has excelled himself.

Overall, Jah Send The Rain is a superb offering from all involved. Vivid and infinitely listenable, the sumptuous musical arrangement is on a par with Romeo’s equally stunning vocal – and this leaves a highly impressive track, worthy of any collection.

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Azizzi Romeo Jah Send The Rain Review by Mr Topple / Pauzeradio PR Services.