Using music as a way to process, to heal and to grow as a human, Wellington’s Voodoo Bloo has created a powerful collection of furious rock music in his debut album, JACOBUS.
A 9-track studio album that has been born out of dark times for Voodoo Bloo (aka Wellington songwriter and musician Rory McDonald), JACOBUS is an album of twists and turns, a narrative rollercoaster driven by emotion and urgency.
Featuring singles ‘Ha Ha Ok Ok’ and ‘MMA’, JACOBUS is relentless in its fusion of percussion and heavy guitars, while vocals soar throughout leaving little to no room for breath. An emotional album to record, JACOBUS is a tribute album of sorts, a way for Voodoo Bloo’s Rory McDonald to deal with grief and mourning.
“In all honesty, it took some major events in my life to create a lot of the material you hear on there, but it’s without a doubt some of the most truthful things I’ve ever said, and it really feels like it captures a moment in time that I never want to relive, but promise to remember for the rest of my life. This is the most passion I’ve put into anything, and when shifting through the final mixes I finally felt like I could put some stored up emotion to rest.” Voodoo Bloo
JACOBUS has its moments of intimacy and nuance, with tracks like ‘Homebody’ and ‘9th Of July, 2019’ providing moments of reflection and memorialising on Voodoo Bloo’s part. They act as great contrast to the punishing sounds of ‘Her Name Was Human’ and ‘Lost Connection’, two album highlights that are demonstrative of Voodoo Bloo’s great musicality and instrumentation.
For Voodoo Bloo, the making of JACOBUS was a cathartic experience and you can hear it in his voice as the album closes. While the listener becomes introduced to this young artist with his heart on his sleeve, JACOBUS is a way for Voodoo Bloo to confront and move on from a very painful time in his life.
“There’s really too much to unpack without going on a tangent about why this record was made in the first place, but so many emotions came flooding back when I had to track these tunes. As they were written at a very dark time in my life, finding the perfect voicing for every instrument was so important, and I finally feel like a lot of negative energy that was trapped inside of me got shoved into this audio-bottle of an LP, capturing a very important time of growth and self-discovery for me.” Voodoo Bloo
PRAISE FOR VOODOO BLOO
“If you’ve got an appetite for alt-rock done right, then your new favourite band might just be Wellington’s exceptional outfit, Voodoo Bloo.”
Tone Deaf
“Driven by growling guitars and vocals to match, the new single from Wellington based artist Voodoo Bloo proves a hectic introduction to this young talent.”
AMNplify
JACOBUS is released Friday, December 4.
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