J’Von is an emcee/vocalist/producer from Seattle, probably best known for his work with Minneapolis producer Ackryte a few years back. His last project was a solo EP released last fall called yellow suit. He now follows that up with another EP, orange suit.

On this EP, J’Von does absolutely everything, from producing to recording to mixing to singing, with the exception of the bass line on one song, which is played by someone named grady. On its surface, the EP has a really pleasant and light R&B sound to it, perfect for these hot summer days. J’Von constructs some nice grooves, and he makes good use of the gentle sound of an acoustic guitar as his main melodic element on the EP. However, where this EP falls short is when J’Von hops on the mic. He’s got a decent singing voice, with a smooth delivery in a higher register, but the lyrics are this EP’s undoing. At best, it’s extremely generic, sounding like someone filled in a R&B Mad Lib sheet. At worst, it sounds like a grown man trapped in a teenager’s body, with immature lyrics that blame some woman for leaving him, which isn’t fair because he did everything right. Any way you look at it, the music on orange suit never gets any better than decent, generic, forgettable R&B. It seems as though when J’Von did everything by himself, he didn’t have anyone to push him to try harder and get outside his comfort zone.

orange suit has potential, and J’Von clearly has some talent, but in the end everything falls flat here. The music is decent, but not enough to carry some really subpar and generic lyricism. Let’s hope that J’Von pushes himself harder next time, or at least finds a musical partner that can challenge him.