JONATHAN BREE – Don’t Call It Love 2LP

Opis

The man behind the mask, Jonathan Bree, returns with his sixth studio album, Don’t Call It Love. Presented as a 17-track double album, it is an erotic concept record exploring sexuality through collaborations with women from the worlds of music, film, photography, and dance.

Don’t Call It Love unfolds like the dark soundtrack to a hidden, velvet-lined basement bar—at times playful and seductive, at others unsettling and provocative. Bree’s new songs explore the full spectrum of sexuality and its emotional weight, resulting in an album that refuses to look away and quite literally wears its heart on its sleeve.

Fans have already compared this new direction to the dark, nostalgic sounds of New Order and Siouxsie & The Banshees, suggesting that Bree’s musical evolution has finally arrived at its melancholy, 1980s-inspired destination: a melodramatic masterpiece of sophisticated sleaze-pop. His signature orchestral arrangements remain at the heart of the record, this time blending sparse noir aesthetics with cinematic instrumentation and his unmistakable brooding baritone.

Don’t Call It Love is also Bree’s most collaborative album to date, featuring an exceptional international cast of female artists whose unique voices define many of the record’s standout moments. Fan favourite Princess Chelsea returns for three striking tracks—“Live To Dance,” “Part Time Love,” and “Slow.” New Zealand’s best-kept musical secret Rachel Clarke moves from intimate restraint to breathtaking intensity on “Savour My Love.” French photographer and artist Eloïse Labarbe-Lafon delivers a charismatic vocal performance on “Chameleon” that evokes the spirit of Jane Birkin, while French musician and actress Adah Dylan takes the lead on the title track with direct, uncompromising clarity, singing: “Don’t call it love when we fuck.”

For an artist already six albums into his career, Don’t Call It Love marks several significant firsts: his first double album, his most guitar-driven release, his most collaborative work, and his most uncompromising conceptual statement to date. It is an album that won’t appeal to everyone—and Bree has no intention of softening its impact. As he puts it: “When I told my mother about it, I suggested she might want to skip this one.”