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Chaos is the birth of all things. From the big bang itself to flashes of musical ingenuity, the world thrives on chaos. Nowhere does this sentiment ring louder than in Jean Dawson’s latest album, CHAOS NOW*, an explosive bout of controlled pandemonium that pushes the genre-defying artist to his most thrilling heights yet.

No two tracks that make up CHAOS NOW*’s insatiable 13-track run are overly familiar yet at no point does Dawson seem all that bothered by that fact. If there is one connecting thread to be found in the album’s electrifying tracklist, it’s Dawson’s himself. At each point, it seems as if every one of his synapses is firing on all cylinders, each lyric that escapes through gnashed teeth or drunken snarl containing the explosive energy of a world birthed newly into existence.

It’s a chaotic form of self-expression that makes Dawson’s latest effort so perfectly imperfect to define yet so exciting to delve into. Tracks like the Isaiah Rashad-assisted “KIDS EAT PILLS*” and “SCREWFACE*” surge forth and expand inward over their rollercoaster-like runs to the point that one section of the song feels wholly distinctive from another; yet, much like kintsugi—the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer—each fractured part, each departure is inseparable from what came before it, telling a kaleidoscopic story of a larger whole. Even the album’s quieter, more introspective moments, like the previously-released “PIRATE RADIO*” or heaven-ascending, Earl Sweatshirt-assisted “BAD FRUIT*,” remain indispensable moments of Dawson’s artist journey.

“I've been trying to put this album into simple terms and sentences, but the more I try the harder it becomes because it's simply not simple," shares Dawson. "It is a love letter to all the children that will grow up to change fractions of the world for the result of a greater whole. I hold no lofty ideals on music-making, rather I wish to serve as a proverbial sledgehammer to doors that have been left locked for kids that not only look like me but feel like me. Music-making has been the greatest gift I've been given so for that I give you all of me - every emotion, every splinter in my step. Feel free to use me as a mirror to see yourself if you wish. I hope to share moments with you, to be a minor theme for your laughs/yells/cries and everything in between. I'm growing up in your eyes, ears, and arms. With this little time we have on this big blue-green rock, I hope that it is well spent with those you love and with no fear under your chest! GO FOR IT!.” 

If catharsis is what you seek, CHAOS NOW* is your salvation. Dawson is an artist who has never done anything other than what he wants—a misfit pop star creating art in his own rapturous image. And none of that seems to be changing any time soon, so might as well dive into the deep end headfirst, because don’t worry, Dawson will be there waiting for you when you’re ready to come up for air.

Listen to CHAOS NOW* below: