Recently in the pages of W&H I dismissed Devendra Banhart’s ‘Nino Rojo’ album as a rather large dollop of poo. So why should the neo-hippy folk of Jake Flowers’ mini-album ‘The Rooster Got Laid’ not provoke comparable levels of antipathy and instead leave me longing to re-read some A E Housman and to walk again the “blue-remembered hills” in Flowers’ adopted Shropshire homeland?
Mainly it’s because Flowers manages to invest a warm and homely quality to his acoustic folk that feels relevant and real whereas I found Banhart’s musings archly contrived and mannered. There is genuine poetry within Flowers’ imagery and observations that add truthful import to the album’s primary theme: the dismissal of modern mores in favour of more natural, earth-bound pleasures. Metaphorical, romantic and contemplative, Flowers’ lyrics meld so well with his voice and instrumentation that he easily takes you to the places, senses and realisations of which he sings. Each of the seven tracks is a mini treasure that reveals increasing levels of depth and resonance with repeated playing.
Sorry, but a Nick Drake comparison must be drawn. It’s not the singing voice – Flowers has a fine clipped English delivery (Peter Sarstedt anyone?) that betrays a playful air where Drake’s is mournful – but the skilful interweaving of blues and jazz in the acoustic folk mix at which Drake also excelled: ‘The Moth, the Bee, the Pheasant & Me’ and ‘One Thing on my Mind’ are cases in point.
|
At only sixteen and a half minutes it’s a small miracle that so many gems should sparkle in these short but detailed cameos: the bluegrass outro to ‘The Rooster and The Shepherd’, the intimate early morning self-reflection of ‘Happiness in Tired Eyes’ and the comforting pleasure to be heard in the cascading notes of the bazouki on ‘Pick A Dead Celebrity’, all these and more.
'The Rooster Got Laid' is an unadulterated pleasure from start to end and should easily please those who yearn for a music that carries sentiments beyond the reach of the tawdry hands of the media and the fashionista.
www.shackledramrecords.co.uk
|
