Jon Brombley and I met when I started working at the Sound Control on Oxford St. At first glance, he looks like a typical London indie musician. Shaggy hair, black plastic specs, and undoubtedly into playing loud noise on a grungy old telecaster copy. Well, I was completely wrong. Despite appearances, Jon is one hell of a songwriter. His outfit, "the Great Sojourn", has produced one self-titled EP, with three great tracks on it. Although I must admit some of the religious references make the athiest in me cringe, I cannot deny that Jon's skills as a songwriter are worthy of attention. Particularly great is the track "Chasing Sunsets" with Jon's emotion-laden voice rising above his mellow acoustic guitar. The instrumental arrangments are sublime on all three tracks, and I'm going to have to ask him how he did it if I hope to turn into a proper songwriter.
I managed to catch Jon's solo show at a fantastic venue, The Old Queen's Head in Islington, and although the audience had been tuning out the horrible acts that preceded him, Jon managed to capture their attention and bring them around with his quirky self-deprecating banter, his soulful voice, and his guitar playing. It was particularly amusing when he started using the looper to layer guitar phrases and I think some of the audience thought there was some black magic going on.
All in all, The Great Sojourn produces very easy to listen to music, but with heart. Go check him out.
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