By Amanda DK

Photo Credit: Austin Conroy and Eric Weiner

Jordan Irvin Dally is going to have a big year.  It’s about time.  In April of 2010 the 22-year-old Los Angeleno garnered reverential buzz for his self-released Despistado EP, a collection of experimental folk songs, soaked with the kind of soulful wanderlust that must have been left over from his upbringing in Illinois, Colorado and Spain.  This year again the blogosphere took notice when he released Sun Room / Teething as a vinyl 7” and digitally on his bandcamp page, a lighter turn for the artist, with a brighter, island sway to his music rather than the sparseness of Despistado.

That was almost a year ago.  In the meantime, Dally played several showcases at SXSW 2011, filmed a couple videos for Yourstru.ly, and performed shows all around Los Angeles.

While I am a big fan of “Teething,” my favorite track of his is “Salt Water” off Despistado.  It begins with a delicate combination of sounds, intimate and nuanced, grounded by an acoustic guitar both metallic and earthy.  As is his trademark, the song adds distortion and reverb effects atop a nomadic folk melody. Each ear kept catching snippets of melodies along the way, interwoven into one story, and wishing it could tune into them all.  The finale is an intricate cacophony, exquisite and expansive.  Neither “Salt Water” or Despistado should be missed, and we should all be keeping an eye on J. Irvin Dally.

Both Sun Room / Teething and Despistado can be purchased here.