Last month English singer-songwriter Jono McCleery releases his third, and in our humble opinion, strongest LP to date via the If Music imprint – a newly established label by the acclaimed Soho-based indepenedent record shop of the same name.
With his identifiable oaky voice and branch-like hands that wave across his guitar with an effortless finger-picking style, Jono has always been rooted in folk. Yet, what makes him so unique is that contemporary marriage between a English green pastured sound and the world of electronic music. Produced by Royce Wood Junior, the electronic embellishments on new album Pagodes are subtle enough not to disturb that very human feeling that comes from Jono’s music, but rather they morph his other-worldy talent for songwriting into a futuristic soundscape alongside lyrics that raise this album to brilliance.
We caught up with the Rotterdam-based artist whilst he was in London recently to film a performance of ‘Fire In My Hands’ – one of our favourite tracks of the new album. Rather than try to mimic the soundscape of the track on guitar, Jono completely reinterpreted the track for guitar for us and we are so pleased to be able to show it all on film.