Album Review: I May No Perf

I May No Perf may seem like a strange name for The Jason McIver Collective’s debut album, if you haven’t seen the cover or have never heard a drunken uncle at a Christmas BBQ scoff “I may not be perfect, but parts of me are excellent.”  

I remember that saying from a bumper sticker in ’92, but it’s been around longer than that and will continue for years to come, in the form of t-shirts and humorous $2 Shop birthday cards.

If I May No(t be) Perf(ect) was intended as some kind of statement about the music, the JMC would have been better sticking to the “parts of (me are) excel(lent)” bit, because this album is damn near perfect, and parts of it are definitely excellent.

With any collective project, there comes a diverse range of influences and a mish-mosh of styles. For the most part, I May No Perf stays true to the singer/songwriter core, from which the song originates, with the other members of the collective building a sonic nest around the egg.

And then there are the unexpected outlying tracks, like Push and Pull which starts with the familiar Kiwi-dub styling and ends sounding more like a track from Heathen Eyes, McIver’s previous musical outing.

You need to hear this album. Not quite acoustic, and not always rock, there are splatterings of Six60, Alice in Chains, Incubus and that inescapable Deftones sound I can’t help but hear in McIver’s work. A surprisingly bright and optimistic record for something born from a nervous breakdown.

Stars are subjective, but let’s give this a 3/3. It’s a polished record by a group of talented musicians and as an added bonus, I didn’t need to skip past any tracks on repeat listens.

I May No Perf is release April 1^st via Southern Collective Music and will be available on iTunes (digitally) or from the Jason McIver Collective website (physically).