Jaydonclover’s individuality glows as she uses music to find herself, living at the centre of a smoky and colourful scene.
In the UK, right now, an abundance of people are making an abundance of soulful rap and RnB. Endless algorithms connect rapper to singer to beatmaker, a circle of life in concrete jungles. Originally from Birmingham, one of England’s famous industrial cities, Jaydonclover casts luscious and colourful sounds onto stories of heartbreak. Each song feels realistically lived in, each beat beset with tape flutter, analogue grit, and spoken samples, grown in a sunlit mind and oxidised in the open smog of real life.
On “Lover’s Anonymous”, from her 2020 album “Recovering Lover” Clover compares relationships to addiction; “Hi, my name is Jaydon, I been clean for 21 days and I really think I’m doing okay” comes out in vulnerable drags of speech. Naturally, those “21 days” turn to just a couple by the last hook, cut down by “new habits” that “do some damage”. Later on, “Jones” recalls this image with its title and lyrics, “I should probably listen in future” delays and dissolves until it’s as lost as it was at the start. Across the entire span of the album, Jaydonclover uses her voice to rope listeners into her state of mind. It takes a lot of strength and certainty to project such a complex image, she steps between modesty, hope, fragility and command freely, sometimes on the same song. “I Wish You” is one of these cases, drawing lines between emotions with ghostly vocal glides.
Finding direction is one of the major themes of “Recovering Lover”. Jaydon is trialled unfairly on “HER > me” as her partner switches between targets. Each of the record’s three interludes has the same cassette-shuffling start and warped beat, giving the tracks a circular, spiralling momentum. The moments of hope, therefore, really matter. The first track sets out to manifest safe travels; “it’s a journey but this time he doesn’t get a ticket – because there’s no fucking spaces”.
Looking at some of Jaydon’s output since her album reveals similar themes, though there’s a clearer confidence, maybe even a sense of peace. By the time we come to “Whataboutnow” Jaydon has reneged on her promises to stress, and compared to the more reserved moments of her LP she sounds positively unlocked. “You thought it was funny then, but what about now?” comes down in a pendulum swing from whisper to croon. And that’s not even mentioning the five other artists and four behind the scenes creatives (listed in this post) on this track, a barrage of tactile verses from voices foreign and domestic. “Call Me”, with Danny Sanchez, is more dependent; “Call me when you’re lonely feeling down, call me when you’re up I’ll be around” has evidence of active care and addiction, the push and pull of entanglement.
Jaydonclover is one to pay attention to closely. She’s got a unique hold on her talent, using her voice to capture the unsuspecting, splitting herself into layers, owning and rearranging her space through the growth and decay of love.
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– Jamie (Staff @108MICS)
108 MICS 