CREDIT: JEFF JORDAN & BRITTANY BRAGG
The Bodhi Jar EP will be my last-ditch effort to cling to the heat and excitement of summer. I'd recommend it to anyone seeking that last blast of warmth before October devours us all.

Fanshawe students from out of town always seem to be asking the same two questions; “What is there to do in London?”; “Why can’t I find anything?” While London might not compare to a city like Toronto, it excels in one specific area: local music.

With two world-renowned music programs and nearly as many venues as there are Tim Horton’s locations, this city is literally crawling with talent. Take a quick walk down Richmond Row and you’ll be sure to pass dozens of concerts at any given time.

You would be particularly lucky if one of these concerts happened to feature the psychedelic funk-rock band Bodhi Jar. This group of Fanshawe graduates puts on the most enthusiastic live show I’ve seen in a long time and that raw energy translates into their music perfectly.

On Sept. 18, they released a five song EP full of violent passion and grit entitled Bodhi Jar.

The EP opens with a powerful track called “Eaves Deli” that serves as a sampler for the album. From the heavily distorted intro, accompanied by the lead singer Andrew Bragg’s raspy upbeat vocals, to the intimate calm-before-thestorm breakdown, this track really captures the band’s essence.

The follow-up song, “Prototype” begins on a calmer note, displaying suave and lifting vocals, devoid of all rasps. Crisp alt-rock guitar riffs and funky bass lines help keep up the energy while effectively progressing the song. In the more aggressive choruses, the addition of smooth background vocals maintains the soft essence of the piece.

Of course it wouldn’t be a Bodhi Jar track without a frantically impassioned bridge somewhere and it seems like the band tried to get out a song’s worth of excitement in about 30 seconds of “Prototype”. Not only are these songs carefully crafted within themselves, the whole arrangement of the album comes together to display a highly versatile band.

If you’ve had a hard time finding the funk in this album, check out the concluding track “Golgotha”. This final song opens with a beefy slap-bass riff alongside a quick, funky guitar. You can really hear the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine influences on this tune and it gives the song a cool ’90s edge.

“Golgotha” falls short in one area however as the minute long guitar solo feels empty and vapid in comparison to the sheer amount of noise that Bodhi Jar usually generates. This is the unfortunate reality of writing music with only one guitarist. Sure the drums are banging up a storm, but the soft bass doesn’t do enough to fill in the rhythmic gap that the guitar has left.

If there’s one good thing that came out of this solo, it’s that the song dwindles enough to create a generous reprise at the end. Going out with such a grand ending gives the listener an image of the band riding into the sunset, possibly on stallions, onto bigger and better things in the near future.

All in all, it’s hard to believe that a four-piece band can make this much noise and make that noise sound so succulent. Bodhi Jar is truly a band that pours their hearts and souls into every note and lyric written.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5