Jeff Roberts is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter from Charlottesville, Virginia (USA). He started playing in bar bands in a long ago age before Star Wars sequels came out and has performed with Rock, Metal, Blues, R&B, Pop, Swing, Folk, and Black Gospel groups in the US, Canada and Germany. There’s a little bit of all of that coming out in his music. He writes songs about topics that include mountain top spirit visions on mushrooms, witnessing violent death, enduring the toxic decline of the Trump years, parolees looking for love, and alien visitations.
His album βMaka Wishβ will be out April 19th. Itβs a musical distillation of a life spent listening to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, James Brown, David Bowie and a whole lot of others.
βAt a certain distance it all falls within a broad Rock category, but within that there are elements of Hard Rock, Pop, New Orleans Funk, Blues, Americana, and Jamaican Dub. I would be dreadfully bored staying within any one musical lane.β
βSince Iβm rather eclectic, while remaining true to some core influences, Iβd say itβs different from my previous releases in sound but similar in spirit.β
What does the albumβs title reveal?
βItβs overdetermined β there are a number of possible meanings. The word βmakaβ is phonetically the same as βmake a,β and so thereβs a superficial level where the phrase βmake a wishβ is the theme, but a maka is also a female spirit in Norse languages, a woman in Hawaiian and an anime character that Damon Albarn created – I didnβt know about the last one when I chose the title. In a Jungian reading you could say that itβs the expression of a desire for reunion with the anima forces of the psyche. Or not, ha ha.β
Is there a consistent lyrical style through the album?
βDefinitely not. Some lyrics are from deeply felt emotions and lived experiences β how many songs are there out there about watching a hapless pedestrian being smashed by a runaway truck? Others are more outward looking and political.β
What are your favourite memories of writing or recording the album?
βThe experience of being deep in a creative zone where things felt like they were being given to me from forces outside myself. Yeah, that sounds a bit airy but itβs a real thing.β
What can you tell me about the songs on the album?
βThe most accessible song is probably βAinβt it Funnyβ which has a very New Orleans flavor and a very simple chorus that alludes to the way time gets away from all of us, always.β
βMy favourite would be βAn Open Bookβ. Itβs based on a traumatic experience and juxtaposes the simple joy of everyday life with serendipitous, random catastrophe. Itβs kind of a dark version of βPenny Laneβ, where everything is just wonderful until it isnβt. A podcaster friend remarked to me how much it reminded him of the The Beach Boys, which I can hear, even though I canβt stand them for the most part. I probably filtered out something from the way McCartney borrowed from them.β
βGhost Loveβ is currently being promoted as a single. Is there a song on the album youβre nervous about releasing out to the world?
βHa ha, yes! βHow Many More Daysβ is a totally campy blues sendup done in a faux Howling Wolf voice. But it rocks like hell, and itβs about the time spent wondering how much longer we had to endure the Trump presidency, and now just his continued presence in the American political nightmare.β
The cover art is by Carlost Cardona, aka Jukar.
βHeβs a gifted young artist I met in Guatemala who now lives in Barcelona.β
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