In early June 2022 CNN announced they’ll no longer use “Breaking News” banners on virtually every story because, well, not every story is breaking news and it could possibly cause us to no longer pay attention to statements such as, well, “breaking news!”
In spite of the diminishing tendency of the term, I can confidently say we have Breaking News you’ll want to hear.
The thirteenth full-length solo album from Jamaican Reggae singer/musician Clinton Fearon (who has called Seattle, Washington home since the late 80s) opens the title track with his attention-garnering style,singing “instead of revenge/let’s clean up the town/first with justice/then with forgiveness” and immediately hits us with a left-hook of sensibility and reality we could all use. The swinging tunes of Breaking News capture the requisite Reggae vibes, filled to every corner, but cling to a sense of positivity that isn’t overtly sunshine-and-butterflies. Instead, the eleven track record wraps us in a warm embrace of common sense with unobtrusive pleas. Breaking News, crafted internationally with Damien “Bobby” Coutrout in Baco Studio, reflects on the current state of our world, feeling very personal and globally conscious all at once. Combining forces with The Riddim Section, Xavier ‘Kubix’ Bègue (guitar), Julien ‘Manjul’ Souletie (vocals and percussions), Simon ‘Saymon’ Coutant (drums), Thomas ‘Mato’ Cirade (bass) and Muctaru Wurie (keyboards), Fearon cultivates a record that is sure to satisfy Reggae connoisseurs and the fresh-to-the-genre alike. With each song it is apparent Fearon is looking into the darkness so many feel in their hearts, processing it, and then looking to heal from it. He does so with a level of cool that makes consuming this Breaking News both cerebral and chill.
Not everything needs to be “breaking news” and not everything is globally pressing to us all individually, however, it feels like we gravitate to these as some means of existence we can’t, or don’t want, to shake. Clinton Fearon asks “how long will it last?” in “Social Unrest” to rhetorically place it back on us all individually. Clinton Fearon just makes sense. Fearon has a wealth of wisdom to impart, we just have to listen. You can listen to Breaking News now on Kool Yu Foot and Baco Records.