Multitalented Duval Artist Jordan Blackburn Steps out of the Digital Cumulus with First Full-Length Release, ‘Abnormal Hues’

Considering the semi-infinite roster of SoundCloud (with a bandwidth-buckling 30 million musicians currently featured on the DIY site), it’s easy for an artist to be lost or overlooked in that digital cumulus.

“Shake” is the new single from Duval solo artist Jordan Blackburn and the closing track from his seven-song debut, Abnormal Hues. According to his EPK, Blackburn is a multi-instrumentalist who boasts a four-octave range, has performed at Carnegie Hall and is a recent grad of Orlando’s Full Sail University, a school whose curriculum is devoted to audio engineering.

While Blackburn is armed with those creds, his artistic idioms—specifically R&B/EDM—pits him against a veritable wall of competitive creative types producing similar music. “Shake” surely has facets that could push Blackburn into a larger spotlight: sharp-as-nails production of beats, bass and synth flourishes, and Blackburn’s undeniable rapid-fire rhymes-meet-crooning skills.

• Stream “Shake”

Whether promotion or providence will raise Blackburn out of the tide and into the prominence of his admitted hero, Frank Ocean, is a TBD outcome. But considering the egalitarian nature of a-now streaming record business and the spontaneous celebrity offered by social media, Jordan Blackburn and Abnormal Hues carries the same lotto ticket as his peers.

You can hear new music from Sufjan Stevens, and music from local, regional, national and international artists on our music discovery station The Independent 89.9 HD4. And you can follow our Fresh Squeeze playlist on Spotify to stream all the best new music, updated every month.