Jean-Paul De Roover

The ideas this Thunder Bay, ON native present sound small when listening to the basic, accessible acoustic rock that lines his solo EP. Known for his work most recently with Night Safari, …dichotomy… isn’t really anything to write home about. His sultry voice and nice, but mostly unoriginal, tunes could only come from a small hometown. But unlike most musicians creating in seclusion, De Roover isn’t yearning for an exit plan; he’s quite content. This EP is leading up to a bigger CD/DVD release, which will come complete with unique and intriguing packaging, so it seems he’s got some ideas that could propel him out of his comfort zone. He does experiment with ambience and acoustic, almost tribal guitar work ("Catharsis”) and neat, classic rock-inspired melodies on the visceral "Elements” but it’s his inability to create one linear path of experimentation that could get the best of him. This EP is confusing as to what exactly it’s attempting to get across. The last cut, "Lapse,” doesn’t do much to give you any closure, proving De Roover’s lyrical ideas could use some more time to develop.