Modern Maximalism

Jacob Collier is a European artist that gained fame within the jazz community through his incredibly innovative harmonies,  charismatic personality, and most notably the dynamic videography that accompanies his music. Jacob Collier achieved internet popularity by creating arrangements and covers of popular songs while adding exotic re-harmonizations and playing every single part in the video. His most popular video is a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t you worry ’bout a thing”, and it currently has 2.5 million views.  To me this video embodies the maximalist ideologies and utilizes them in a modern context. The most impressive aspect is that his arrangement is packed chock full of crazy harmonies and written for a very dynamic instrumentation. Within the video he utilizes 6 different types of drums, 3 different keyboards, 6 vocal parts, 3 cymbals, 6 auxiliary percussion instruments, and an upright bass. Although it may not be as physically maximalist as Mahler or any other orchestral composer, his rendition of the “Don’t you worry ’bout a thing” contains much more parts than the original version, and the overall sonic landscape he creates is bursting with energy just like any other maximalist piece.  I feel that the element of maximalism within Jacob Collier’s video lies mostly within the overall sound of his one man ensemble, as well as the visual element of the editing choices he made.

His harmonic choices take the original harmonic form of the song “Don’t you worry ’bout a thing” and builds off of the prior foundations. Jacob Collier utilizes lots of extensions and playful dissonances that create a color that is truly unique to him. It feels like he took a paint brush and blended the entire color pallet.  There is so much to listen to, and each time I listen to the song I seem to catch something new.  He creates a unique effect where the parts transcend their individual sounds and create this one holistic blend of harmony and timbre. Often times in ensembles you can hear instruments stick out, as well as specific parts of a chord. For example sometimes you can hear a section blast the third of a chord, and it takes away from the overall group sound. The mixing of sounds Jacob Collier uses seldom breaks from the overall color of the group he made. In this video attached here, Jacob Collier created a live video of him harmonizing a video sent by one of his patrons. He essentially fills up an entire ProTools project space with various instruments and parts that he writes. In the comment section of Jacob Collier’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing”, a viewer stated, “This is almost supernaturally good”, this comment essentially sums up the knowledge and ability Jacob has. He conceptualizes sound unlike anyone else, and he’s able to deliver an incredible performance on each instrument he writes for. Very few people can pull of such a feat, and it seems inhuman that one individual is capable of so much. Another interesting comment that sparked some research was from “Jasper Jamm’ who commented, “This dude DEFINITELY has some background in harmony training. No one makes up those chords without some real education damn”. Curiously I looked up Jacob Collier’s musical background, and was astonished to see that he declared himself an “autodidact”, which is a fancy way of saying he was self taught.  One could argue that his skills are almost prodigal.  He launched his first YouTube video in 2011, and shortly after was gaining a lot of attention and eventually intrigued the ear of jazz great Herbie Hancock. Huge Harmonies=Huge success.

Taking a look at Jacob Collier’s videography, he fits a lot of visual content within the small confines of a YouTube video webpage.  He uses a splitscreen paneling effect that allows us to look through various “windows” to each part he’s playing. He opens with 6 frames of just him singing each voice part acapella style, and later on introduces the viewer to more instruments within the one-man band. This editing style increases the scope of the project and creates a cool effect seeing on individual performing with themselves. At the peak of the song you can see every part happening all at once and the visuals climax along with the music. The large scale in video accompanied with the huge sound of the music stimulates the senses to created a unique and maximalist viewing/listening experience. I found this to be a video and song I could listen to over and over again. Sludge pump writes, “Gaaaaah!  Just as good after the twentieth watching!  So good Jacob!!”, a statement I found to be so true. There is so much happening all at once that it is nearly impossible to take it all in during a single listen, and the video is so captivating and mesmerizing it’s very easy to get caught up in the moment and miss some minute yet incredible moments.  His video demonstrates that he is just as much of a monster in the studio as he is at writing and performing.