Some songs are phoenixes out of ashes and the fire that Allan Jamisen is burning in his song, Gotta Do, is the same fire. This song was written in a period of intense self-research, and it does not show signs of trauma – it exudes strength. It is what occurs when the darkness is fueled instead of hindrance.
The intro is the feeling of entering the serene waters before the sun rises, the layers of the synth sliding over the skin like silk, and then growing to an electronic attack, which strikes like the sunbeams poking through the storm clouds. Jamisen is inspired by an ocean of influence – the fearless reinvention of Bowie, the soulful beat of Motown – but what is produced is entirely unique. This is a man who has been a member of gospel choirs, who has shared studio time with Ace of Base architects in Copenhagen art galleries, and who has even worked with Rolling Stones engineers, and all of that is reflected in every fibre of that cloth.
The magic of the production lies in the contrasts. Smooth synthesisers are banging against hard-edged electronic grime as rhythms thump like a strong heartbeat and soundscapes swing between meditation and euphoria are created. The bare-bones lyrics are a mantra, the repetition carving out more and more as it goes, until the meaning crystallises like ice into elaborate patterns.
Gotta Do lives in contradictions perfectly: it is both bleeding and making things happen, is thoughtful and contagious at the same time. It gives you a companion to pensive thought, or an anthem to mass exultation. It is arrival to one whose course has been meandering through Phoenix and Los Angeles to Copenhagen and back home again that adversity does not deaden artistic vision, it only makes it gleam and glimmer into something radiant and living.
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