It seems cruel to consign Jake Bugg to the indie scrap heap
so early into his career. The fact that
his debut received such commercial and critical acclaim is almost a testament
to the garbled, hilarious mess that was Shangri-La, with it’s benign, bland
guitar passages and horribly strained vocal lines. Bug admits himself that “On My One” is a make
or break album, and as far as I can see he isn’t likely to bounce back from
this.
Title track and opening song “On My One” opens with a sombre
guitar tone, drenched in melancholy twanging atmosphere. Lyrically it’s rather twee, and also
blatantly about 5 years out of date.
Jake Bugg is many things but “A poor boy from Nottingham” is something
he hasn’t been for quite some time.
Either way, the genuine emotion and tonal consistency make this one of
the more bearable, if slightly forgettable, songs on the album. The following track is what I imagine would
have happened if “XTRMNTR” era Primal Scream had collaborated with Vanilla
Ice. “Gimme The Love” sees Bugg
awkwardly rapping banal lyrics over a blatantly generic indie rock riff, as
well as spring boarding away from the fairly appropriate tone of “On My One” into
territories he’s clearly not familiar with.
The bluesy fuzzed out guitar riff of “Love, Hope and Misery”
feels like Bugg is taking cues from the ridiculously dramatic Last Shadow
Puppets album. Over arranged and totally
out of character for both Bugg and the album.
The chorus is fairly catchy if nothing else. The only song that manages to recapture the
melancholia of the title track is “Never Wanna Dance”, however Bugg is once
again straining his voice to limits it was clearly never designed to push. The line, “And if suddenly you leave, I will
understand, ‘cause you don’t need a guy like me, who never wants to dance” is
genuine and extremely evocative however, an insight into the kind of poetry
Bugg is capable of when he’s not rapping about how mental his nights out in
Nottingham used to be.
“Ain’t No Rhyme” is a shambles. Skip it if you want to leave this album with
your respect for Bugg intact. “All That”
is quite probably the highlight of the album.
The simplistic heart-wrenching vocals, that are actually in Buggs range
for once, coupled with the descriptive lyrics are the aspects of Buggs work
that could revive his career and regain him the critical acclaim he once had.
Overall this album
doesn’t know whether it wants to be a sorrowful indie-folk album about crushed
dreams or an acid rock infused hip hop album.
This, as I’m sure you can imagine, leaves it feeling unfocused, confused
and schizophrenic. However, Bugg proves
in a number of places that he’s more than capable of being a truly expressive
lyricist, and that gives me hope for his future. I would recommend you stream this album and
skip his Beastie Boys impressions.
Charlie McCartney
