Score: 3.5/5
For Ludwig Ellis-Leone, all the world’s a stage, even if there’s no play. Ellis-Leone is the mind behind the Brooklyn musical entity known as San Fermin. Consisting principally of vocalist Allen Tate and a backing band, the group released its unsuspicious self-titled debut in December 2013. Praises were quick to arrive for Ellis-Leone’s songwriting and his employment of Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe of Lucius. 
Fast-forwarding two years, San Fermin has returned with its second album, “Jackrabbit.” This time around, Laessig and Wolfe are nowhere to be found, and the band’s touring female vocalist Rae Cassidy has left to pursue a solo career. Charlene Kaye, whose voice is sharper and more arresting than Cassidy’s smoother, silkier delivery, has filled the role of second vocalist.
Where the debut was rich and dramatic with scenes being painted easily by Ellis-Leone’s words, “Jackrabbit” is starker and more visceral. “San Fermin” discussed love, somehow forbidden yet ordinary. This sophomore release is more experimental, relying on Tate’s singing more than the female harmonies so treasured in “San Fermin.”
Despite these changes, it seems appropriate the band’s voice has had a shift, seeing as its sound has made a change as well. With the release of “San Fermin,” Ellis-Leone brought the genre of baroque, or “chamber,” pop to the ears of popular music. San Fermin’s ability to change to his varying writing styles reinforces the band’s amorphous sound and image. San Fermin is malleable, yet immediately recognizable. Its members are Ellis-Leone’s personal acting troupe, but with sound.
Tate’s voice is a lush and hearty one. “Jackrabbit” makes more use of his talents, but it’s difficult to say whether or not it makes better use of them. His deep, throaty bass is lifted to a higher register, better accommodating his heavier load of singing full verses in this album. Though Tate can carry the weight of the lyrics, his singing sounds forced and false, especially when compared to his abilities heard from 2013.
The instrument on “Jackrabbit” is no more or less present than that of “San Fermin.” The difference comes with the sounds used in the album. “Jackrabbit” is more electronically driven. There are heavier instances of dubbing and looping sounds, signatures of Ellis-Leone and his fondness for building sounds and creating audible drama.
“Jackrabbit” handles imagery of nature and science, terrestrial and extraterrestrial, microscopic and life-sized. Songs like “Astronaut,” “Parasites” and “The Woods” tell of despondency, loneliness and fear. Ellis-Leone seemed clearly more ambitious when writing, probably hoping to bring out something more rugged in comparison to his well-groomed and formal beginning.