Jonathan Baxter – Piracy (2025)
Unafraid to dig beneath the surface, dip into those grittier areas of life, and bring out the worst but with the best sense of solace and intimacy, Jonathan Baxter celebrates life from the great to the worst and back again. After performing with several bands, Baxter reached our ears last year with his debut single, ‘SwanS’, placing him on our “to listen to and never forget” list. Today, we delve once again into the Irish musician’s discography, jumping headfirst into the single, ‘Piracy’.
One year after his critically acclaimed ‘SwanS’, Baxter continues pushing boundaries with his emotive single, ‘Piracy’. With ‘Piracy’, he saunters through various realms of rock, incorporating indie-rock with classic and alternative rock. While one might say, “alright, but that’s just all rock music”, Baxter transcends eras, swimming from the 70s to 2025, picking up hits of retro and contemporary vibes along the way.
A concoction of soaring drums, crashing drums, bold bass, and shimmering keys peeping from the background, ‘Piracy’ tosses you immediately into a kaleidoscopic sonic hurricane. Waves of sound fly in the tumultuous wind rushing past your head, around your body, and taunt the fall to crush your heart and leave you in a mire of music. Interestingly, as much as Baxter’s rich vocals rush about in the wind, they also act as an anchor keeping you safe in the frenzied journey. Melodically, ‘Piracy’ is a weighty tune to be given praise for its complexity and depth; however, it is the lyricism and the theme that up the ante.
You know the idea of tossing a message in a bottle into the ocean, then hoping for something… anything. In 1990, Baxter tossed his bottle into the unknown – a gesture of innocence – and it was found by a nurse in Liverpool. A replay arrived in January 2021, something that one would hardly consider happening, and this expressed that moment of graceful connection. ‘Piracy’ oddly tips this on its head as a “…devastating reflection on counterfeit love, emotion distortion, and the illusions we inherit…” Do not fear, all is not lost despite being faced with a world of falseness; in his final line, Baxter closes with the insightful “No man’s an island”.
Find out more about Jonathan Baxter on his official website, Instagram, YouTube and Spotify.
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