Straight from the opening notes of a track called “India” on Jitwam’s third studio album, Third (Deluxe), the listener is transported to the effortless cool of Curtis Mayfield. It’s a welcome extension to 2022’s Third, featuring a staggering seven extra songs. As the brain struggles to assign the perfect portmanteau of genres to the tune—Electro soul? Afrobeat? Jazz-step? You reel in your neurons and open one of his most popular music videos—a track called “Busstop.” It utilizes a rare confluence of Mumbai’s backstreet b-boy dance culture with the frenetic hustle of the Bombay bustle and something other than rudimentary Desi hip-hop. Free-flowing, mellow, with a foundation around footwork—Brooklyn-based soul-connoisseur Jitwam’s music and visuals elicit the soul of the subcontinent.
Born in Assam, India, before moving around Australia, New York, and London, Jitwam is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who synthesizes melodies under a wide umbrella of sounds. His 17-track album Third (Deluxe) blitzes into straight-from-the-shoulder funk for the first four tracks, with “The Get Down” being the one that Sly and the Family Stone would most approve of. He then proceeds to ease up and pull back the reins on “Equanimity”—a slow burn featuring New York-based jazz singer Melanie Charles that truly tugs at the strings of your heart. Perhaps being born in Assam in Northeast India before flitting around the world instilled this need to change things up. Flutes, moogs, and orchestral stabs that build into intoxicating crescendos seem to be the running theme, and the additional tracks on this deluxe version make it a more complete and well-rounded iteration of the album—as well as a more holistic listening experience.
Just when you think you’ve got the sound figured out, though, “Money & Things” dials the psychedelia up to 11, and you worry you’re on the edge of an acid flashback. Tune back in, and “Brooklyn Ballers” is already easing out those frazzled synapses. The chorus to this track is a hook for the ages and has endless loop value. “Hey Papi” sees the bass and guitar juggling counterpoint melodies, which are smoother than butter at the 67-degree sweet spot, and it’s got a retro music video to boot. Filmed by Connor Pennaligen, it uses grainy footage of the band trekking through an urban cityscape while momentarily cutting to his live shows. He then hits the flip switch again, searing through the manic rhythm of “Poor Man’s Boy” at breakneck pace. This song makes you want to shout at a cop just to feel like a punk for a few glorious minutes.
The next two tracks bring about an electric lull before “Mess of U” pops a Bossa Nova rhythm out of nowhere and transports the listener to a galaxy of floating trumpets and explosive percussion. This song is like the golden love child of João Gilberto and Bonobo, and it’s a must-listen. Both previous tracks were not on the original album, and one has to wonder why he didn’t just release all that extra material as a separate project. Perhaps he felt these additional offerings continued in a similar vein as the other songs from Third; after all, each album does cater to a differing palate. Moving on, the remixes towards the end would likely sound better as live DJ sets, but they’re interesting variations of his songs nonetheless.
The focal elements of Jitwam’s sound are the supremely lush production, the fact that it’s endlessly exciting, and the surprises are always welcome. To that end, he closes out the album with the warm embrace of the slow, wistful “Roots,” a far cry from the preceding songs but the kind of requiem that fittingly concludes the sonic journey that is Third (Deluxe). Now, I just wish he’d perform in Delhi.
