Sunday, January 11, 2015

JP Corwyn.

How could you be so blind? You haven’t heard of JP Corwyn? You haven’t seen him live? You haven’t heard his music? How embarrassing for you. Really, though. It’s ok. You’re in the right place. For JP, the rationale for the blind jokes is, well, reasonable. He is legally blind. Born with a degenerative condition, he has been legally blind since birth, with the shades pulling ever tighter throughout his as-yet-brief-but-potent life. This makes his genre tag of Blind Indie Rock make more sense. Otherwise, he’d just be sort of pretentious and snarky, but not in the fun depraved sit-com way.

Corwyn’s vocal-driven indie rock style is infectious, reminiscent of Toad the Wet Sprocket’s Glen Phillips co-writing songs with Angie Aparo that get snatched by Adam Levine of Maroon 5, with occasional stomps into Creed and Pearl Jam-esque electric anthem territory.

Once and always a New Yorker, Corwyn was born on Long Island, and now makes his home and home base in Seminole, Florida after spending several post-high school years in Washington, D.C. He sang before he spoke and declared his musical vocation when he was 5 years old. His family was thrilled. Sarcasm. Their reticence would have been justified, if JP’s musical talent and gift for genuine emotional connection had not been so pronounced. His desire to draw a crowd and love of the electricity found in the performance experience is a through-line in his success, as is his love of story. Story is king in Corwyn’s music. Story telling is more important than a clever lyric, and true listening is more important than feet tapping. Most often, the story is of triumph, survival, some form of powering through, and, during conversation, the inevitable: blind jokes. The really offensive, really funny ones.  (as compiled on the bands website)

Read more:  www.reverbnation.com/jpcorwyn