Jean Dawson is an artist who is a clear sum of his influences, but also one who doesn't let these influences completely define nor eclipse him. The singer-songwriter originally hails from San Diego where he was raised between the borderlines of Southern California and Mexico & impacted equally by both his African American and Mexican heritages.
He initially started to tinker away with self-recordings at age 14, musically inspired by the boundary pushing 'hip-hop' creations of Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and Andre 3000. But as he got a bit older and more musically curious, he eventually got exposed to the love-lorn guitar ballads of The Smiths, Nirvana, and The Cure, who motivated him to start experimenting with multi-instrumentalism within his own music.
Now 22, Jean is poised to release his first ever body of work, a 9-track LP entitled Bad Sports that eschews genre convention for an unique collage of seedy guitar melody, distorted rap poems, and pale nostalgia. Today EARMILK has been given the opportunity to unveil the first single off of the project, a moody indie-rap cut called "Bullfighter" produced by frequent collaborator Lecx Stacy. The song's airy guitar led intro brings to mind a Beneath The Moon–era King Krule, but instead of reaching for the predictable longing sad-boy tropes, Jean instead uses the melodic sound-bed to list all of the reasons why he should not be f*cked with, ending with a boastful verse aimed at any and all competition.
Listen to the track above and be sure to check out the Bad Sports LP when it is released this summer!
Connect with Jean Dawson: Soundcloud / Instagram / Twitter
