Bay Area artist Jedwill returned last week with a stellar new single, “Immortal.” A team-up with superstar singer-songwriter-producer Underscores, the track shows an artist flexing everything he brings to the table within the underground pop-electronic sound.

Jedwill is arguably known as much for his stream of consciousness Twitter presence as he is his music, but “Immortal” reminds listeners why he’s still one of the most exciting vocalists in the internet music scene right now. The track meshes the punk sensibilities of both its artist and producer, the latter of who dabbled extensively in the genre for their fantastic LP, Fishmonger, released earlier this year. The result is a wonderful music synthesis between two collaborators and friends.

“Immortal” kicks off with a majestic opening passage that foreshadows the grandiosity to come. Layered vocal tones immediately strike the ear before Jedwill comes in with his poetic lyricism. “Exhale and the air sounds/Fall and the wind goes,” he sings. It’s gorgeous. The track then builds with a sparkling acoustic guitar that backs Jedwill’s characteristic pitch fluctuations before dropping into its rousing chorus. In the second verse, Jedwill’s vocals come back to vibrant life before receding into the instrumental and building back into the chorus again. Don’t sleep on this kid’s precise, impactful songwriting.

The chorus delivers the sort of poignant catharsis we’ve come to expect from Jedwill in what is possibly his best performance to date. “You can’t stop me, I feel immortal,” he repeatedly squelches, before a true punk breakdown comes in to close the song. Jedwill has said that he approaches his sound and community building with the same ethos of the original punks, and it shows. Here’s an artist tackling existing sounds and tropes within their scene in a totally singular way, using their self-taught musicianship to bring a fresh vocal cadence to a scene consistently ripe for innovation. His melodies and inflections are contagious; his layering will reverberate around your ear canals.

That the instrumental, made by one of the best producers you can find, melds seamlessly with their performance instead of taking it over speaks to Jedwill’s powerful artistic presence. What’s scary is that this is in many ways still the beginning of Jedwill--whatever comes next may stop the scene in its tracks.

Written By Noah Simon

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