Jacob Collier’s “Djesse Vol. 4” album analysis | Blending culture and bending the rules

By: Anna Montoya-Gaxiola

Photos by Thom Kerr

Singer-songwriter and producer Jacob Collier released his newest album “Djesse Vol. 4” in late February, wrapping up his Djesse album series. The making of this album took six years, offering listeners an insight of the eras of life Collier experienced as he created the project. The series albums happened by accident, what was first going to be one large album became the six-year project we see today.

After endless hours of edits, shifts, remakes and more, “Djesse Vol. 4” was created with the hopes of “freeing people,” Collier says. “If this album could hit people in the soul, that’s my big hope and dream I suppose,” — and it sure did.

“If I tried to calculate the number of clicks and drags it’s taken to complete this album we’d be in the millions for sure,” Collier says about perfecting the album.

We’ve had a month to take in the fourth volume of the Djesse series, but let's think back to what came before it. “Djesse Vol. 1” was an orchestral album, “Djesse Vol. 2” was acoustic and “Djesse Vol. 3” was electronic, so how would we categorize “Djesse Vol. 4”?

“Djesse Vol. 4” features 16 different songs, taking listeners through an array of sounds and cultures. As Collier put it, it’s a “celebration of humankind” — literally. There are 100,000 people on the album. Collier allows every listener to explore the world through sound as they make their way through the hour-long album.

Each song is distinct from the next. There truly is no set genre to describe “Djesse Vol. 4” as a whole. It’s innovative and experimental, testing the limits for what a music album should feel and sound like.

When asked what setting he would place a fan to listen to the album in, Collier’s answer was inconclusive. One moment you’re in a “huge part of nature” listening to “100,000 voices,” “A Rock Somewhere,” and “World O World.” Then there’s songs like “Box Of Stars Pt.1 and Pt. 2” where it’s like a “subtrance nightclub vibe” and “Witness Me” for when you’re “driving to the gym.”

For a six-time Grammy winner, Collier’s process of making music is unique. “I make music that I want to hear and music that I wish existed,” the Interscope/Decca artist says. It’s a process that he hopes other musicians will take with them after listening to his projects. It’s a “safe space.”

“This is for everybody, everybody is welcome. I hope that there is something for everyone in the album,” Collier says.

With the ending chapter of the Djesse series, Collier says this is both the end of a chapter but also a new beginning, “I’ve blasted my brain open a little bit, I’m ready for whatever is coming next.”

“My creative aperture has widened significantly. I used to walk into music and indeed life with a plan that I held quite tightly to. Six years on I think I got a massive kick out of more and more the idea of not taking myself too seriously or my plan too seriously,” Collier says.

Make sure to stream “Djesse Vol. 4” on your preferred streaming platform now!