Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Though primarily a roots reggae album, Julian Marley delves into several other genres on his latest project, Awake.

On the album, due out May 26 through Ghetto Youths/Universal, there is a marked difference between the feel of two adjacent songs on the same topic, the slow, bare-bones (musically) Just In Time, which is followed by the up-tempo reggae piece, Jah Works. Both deal with the spirituality of the Rastafarian. Marley tells The Sunday Gleaner that the tempo for Just In Time was decided when the song was being constructed.

"Songs like that don't need a whole heap of instruments. It is a more organic sound. It is a desolate sounding song. Jah Works now, more upbeat, more in the reggae beat," he says.

Variations in tempo and vocal timbre are part and parcel of the album, the title track of which was the first that Marley came up with. (He points out that it took him two years from conceptualisation to completion, but he was not "really consistent right through" the entire 24 months). So he started out with the love song, Oh Girl, featuring rapper Mr Cheeks, with a brief monologue in a deep voice and quickly goes into a good falsetto. Boom Draw is an out-and-out rub-a-dub tune, while All I Know is a hip-hop one.

Every little thing

Still, most of Awake is on familiar roots reggae ground. "Me is a man listen most of the legendaries," Marley says, adding that he listens to jazz, the blues and "every little thing".

"But when it come down to the roots we want to have it original," he said. And that means reggae rockers. "Jamaica has a history of reggae, just like America have a history of the blues. If you go to a blues show in America is like you are in the '50s. So me no care, me come fi deliver the roots and create it with live music." He can play a lot of that live music, as he plays the guitar, keyboard, bass and drums. The guitar is the accustomed composition tool, although he chuckles as he says if he had a keyboard with him he would probably write more songs.

Another pair of adjacent, thematically similar songs is Rose Hall and A Little Too Late (featuring brother, Stephen Marley). Both are about relationships where the male gets the bitter end of the stick. Marley says while they are not about his personal experiences, other persons he knows have been through them. They are in part intended for the men "to wise up. If you love a woman love her, but you can't lose yourself".

And while Rose Hall is not about the notorious Montego Bay lady, Marley says she is "one of the headliners. It is a lineage of people. It no have no colour either".

He is not looking askance at The Bible either, as in Jah Works Marley mentions Noah and the ark, as well as a pillar of salt. There is no conflict of spirituality here, as Marley says "of course Rastafari is biblically based. In The Bible, it speaks of the east. It may not say Ethiopia, but if you do your math ... Christ a go come in a new form," Marley said, referring to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. "As we live the prophecy reveal in front of our eyes."

Discrimination

Violence in the Streets features another brother, Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley. Julian sings about the youths who "say them can't gat a job/'cause they got no credential", while Jr Gong deejays about the youths being discriminated against because of their hair like wool. Julian says the song is about the plight of the youths in general.

"We represent the African children wherever we are. The wool is not necessarily the locks. Everyone have the wool same way. But we can use that song to represent Jamaica 'cause is nuff African brethren. This song is a very serious song. If me go England is the same thing," Marley tells The Sunday Gleaner.

He considers unemployment the beginning of violence.

"You can't eat no food, everything goes upside down. If you can't feed your youths, it gets bitter," he said. Still, he points out that "it is also a mentality that get us lazy along the way. Even if you get an opportunity, you been doing nothing for so long". He describes All I Know, which uses the familiar image of the bucket going to the well repeatedly as a "parables kind of song", which applies to the personal as well as the international level, although "this song was composed even before the recession".

Marley says he is satisfied with his third album and says now it is a matter of promoting it, with the possibility of a promotional tour across the US. However, he says, "we need the support in Jamaica" because in matters of roots reggae, drum and bass, Jamaica is the base "of course".