Review: Good Reasons

5/10: A reason to dance, I guess?

A rising artist of dance-pop, NZ artist Jon Lemmon has released his newest venture: ‘Good Reasons’, a follow-up to his previous releases of ‘It’s Gonna Be Alright’ and ‘Something True’. While there’s no question that the bubbling positivity of his output is essential to his growing success, ‘Good Reasons’ is his first release that has sounded utterly dated despite, or perhaps in spite, of his infectious beats.

The unrelenting march of tropical house has swarmed across all corners of the indie and ‘lo-fi’ scene – it is at a point where the tell-tale chimes are synonymous with cheap quality. Which is a shame, because the proliferation of artists like Kygo doesn’t have to mean that the sound is unoriginal, or dated. It’s just unfortunate that Lemmon has decided to take influence from Kygo – while not terrible, ‘Good Reasons’ sounds like a Zedd offcut, something he discarded when working with Ariana Grande a few years ago.

It’s just that Jon Lemmon is late to the party on this one – a party that was never particularly interesting, but a party nonetheless. ‘Good Reasons’ would have been fresh out the gate three years ago, but now, it just reminds me of when Grimes released ‘Go’ three years after the dubstep craze similarly influenced all corners of pop. 

I hope Lemmon is able to develop a newer sound – he has the tools, he just needs to move away from Youtube mixes as a reference point.