Have You Heard: Try In Acoustica?
Chris Malachi and Joby Jay Lay It Bare with the Acoustic Version of "Try"
Love songs are easy to write. Songs about the fear of love, that's a different thing entirely. "Try," the soulful duet from Chris Malachi and Joby Jay, lives in that more honest, more complicated space, and its new acoustic version brings that emotional truth closer than ever.
At its core, "Try" is about a very human tension, the pull between fear and faith when it comes to love. Not the fairytale version, not the easy version, but the real one. The kind where you're fully aware that there are no guarantees, and you choose to show up anyway. That kind of vulnerability takes courage, and Chris Malachi and Joby Jay don't shy away from it. They lean in.
The acoustic version does what the best unplugged renditions always do.
It removes everything that isn't essential and allows the song to reveal itself. Nnamdi Robinson, who laid down the guitar on the original riddim, returns here to anchor the performance with live strings that feel warm, unhurried, and deeply felt. His playing doesn't decorate the song. It holds it.
With the production pulled back, the chemistry between Chris Malachi and Joby Jay becomes the centrepiece. Their voices find each other naturally, trading vulnerability and reassurance in a way that feels less like a performance and more like a genuine conversation between two people working something out in real time.
"Try" is produced by Paris LaMont as part of the Tampa Riddim project, a foundation that speaks to a growing creative community doing meaningful work outside of the traditional reggae hubs. That the song feels this intimate and this fully realised is a testament to everyone involved.
