Vancouver artist Jordan Klassen is back with a total reinvention on his new full-length album, Vice Versa. Bright, upbeat, and pop-forward, it trades the baroque and orchestral sweep of his earlier work for something playful and immediate. Co-produced with David Vertesi, the two have built an analogue world from the ground up, swapping folk plucks for ’90s VHS synths. Filtered through Klassen’s new age and indie pop sensibilities, the songs send the listener down memory lane, while still landing safely in the present.

As if waking from a dream in the back seat of your parents’ minivan, radio channels blur together as Jordan announces, “Good evening ladies and gentlemen”. “Crowning Vision” opens the record, evoking the hype beats of early Y2K dance pop. “Fall Apart” is among the most instantly catchy songs Klassen has written, channeling middle school Top 40 countdowns with acoustic power chords and harmonica solos. “Sweat It Out” is blatantly Enya-esque and strangely soothing, even as he sings ‘the end is near’.

Klassen seems to treat birth and death as one continuum, and the prompt is to keep going rather than surrender to oblivion. “Hurts Like Hell”, loops in classic ’90s vinyl scratching and saxophone vamping, setting them against Klassen’s signature soft vocals. The chorus brings an unexpected touch: a banjo running underneath, anchoring the bouncy rhythm with a little throwback ‘Klassen surprise’.

“Silver Bullet” is the record’s biggest swing, and sounds like nothing Klassen has made before. It opens ambient and steeped in Donna Lewis swooning, then builds into a soaring chorus that feels like the newborn sibling of U2’s Achtung Baby. In the back half, a gorgeous female harmony anchors the song, and the two voices carry purposefully to the end. Lyrically, it’s a very universal plea: he is at the end of his rope, and asking for some panacea to come and fix everything all at once. Leaning into the instinct that there is a perfect and singular answer to a complex problem.

It’s a record that looks back without living there. As warm, bright, and emotionally honest as anything Klassen has written in his storied career. It sounds like the radio dial landing on the right song at exactly the right moment.

Known for his vivid storytelling, distinctive voice, and a string of CBC Radio Top 20 singles, Klassen has spent fifteen years earning his place as one of Canada's most respected and emotionally precise artists. Across countless albums and EPs, over 20 million streams, a devoted international following, and critical praise from Rolling Stone, NPR, and the BBC, he has been celebrated as a “singer-songwriter's singer-songwriter,” and his work has been defined by its quiet emotional depth and richly layered arrangements.