Jarv Is – Proceed to the Route Review

Six times live and never to be released, it would seem. Blindsided by the reunion of the world’s best band, Jarvis Cocker has dedicated himself to what may be a new Pulp album. Jarv Is, his side project which released the marvellous slow-burn Beyond the Pale in 2020, has been put on ice. Along with it are a handful of unreleased pieces which infiltrated live shows. Glastonbury got a taste of the action but an official release seems unlikely. Not while Pulp is still teasing and touring, their fans are hopeful at the sight of new material. Perhaps Proceed to the Route will show up on their untitled album. Maybe not. All we can do is speculate. Speculate, and listen to this Glastonbury recording of the song in an admittedly error-strewn show where microphone troubles dominated the first half.   

But what a first half it is. After a Pulp track and the lead single of Beyond the Pale, the misunderstood and slow-burning Must I Evolve, comes Proceed to the Route. It found its footing on the Glastonbury stage and soon arrived at Oya and Flow Festival respectively. But it never made it further than this and we are worse off for it. Proceed to the Route lingers on the traffic signal trouble of a SatNav, something now replaced by Google Maps shouting at the driver. For those in the passenger seat and control of the music, try and source a version of Proceed to the Route and play it for some stressed-out driver. Relive the outrage of proceeding to the route after one wrong turn. Cocker noted it was a song all about the insufferable noise made by computer directions and the monotone thrills within are good fun. 

A track of diversions and distractions, of accepting their impact and trying to get back on track. While Cocker may deliver the title of this track as Emma Smith provides some exceptional backing vocals, it lacks the punch. But all of Beyond the Pale skips over this. Instead, the heavier moments can be heard in the road not travelled and the wonder for what could have been. We hold onto those moments of bliss because we think it is better than the situation we now find ourselves in. Those questions of “are we there yet?” feel like perfect crowd pleasers, a chance to pull the audience in and involve them with a song filled with confident fear. Those parallels are a constant fitting for Cocker lyrics – more in his recent solo efforts than anything else.  

We cannot prepare for the diversions or disasters in life but the route we take makes all the difference. Proceed to the Route has that sense of adventure and unexpected thrill buried in it, somewhere. It is hard to sift through the instrumental insecurities found within. Very stripped-back in that sense and reliant more on some lush keyboard and synth work than it is on traditional elements which formed Beyond the Pale as an often-terrifying piece of work. But it has the fundamentals. It has the Cocker vocal range, the variety of possible meanings still held. Without a studio version, it is impossible to figure out where Cocker was headed with this wandering song, a trip not through his memories but a pull over in the layby of regret. Who knows where he heads next, but Proceed to the Route is certainly worth pursuing.