Satin and soul

>> Jacksoul returns after a long nap with Sleepless

By SCOTT C

 Haydain Neale sounds like a kid on Christmas morning as he talks to me over the phone from Toronto. It seems his label, BMG, threw him a record release party that was beyond his wildest dreams and he doesn't seem to want to come down off of his new cloud.

 As the frontman for the bittersweet sounds of Jacksoul, Neale couldn't be more excited about his latest achievement, Sleepless. "They had the party at the Weston Harbour Castle," explains the jubilant Neale, "and it was a high-class affair. They even hired models that were just there, hanging out in satin pyjamas. It was really cool."

 Following closely on the heels of the successful movements of the Philosopher Kings, Neale spent the last four years working in the studio, working on the soulful sounds of a band that has changed much since its conception. "It has been years since our first record ABsolute came out, so naturally you're not going to hear exactly the same thing we came with the first time." The inclusion of the multi-musical talents of Philosopher King Jon "Rabbi" Levine and James McCulloch from Prozzak also contributed to a sound that leans heavily towards the word "departure," but Neale maintains that it's all relative.

 "Jacksoul has always changed with how I was feeling at the time, so the only real difference is the natural progression of time. The essence of the music is still coming from the same place."

 With new label support that's in it to win, a new video freshly shot in L.A. and ready to rock, and all the satin pyjamas he can handle, I don't see Haydain Neale getting much sleep at all in the next little while. :

 

 

At le Swimming, Wednesday, March 15, 9pm, $4