Still in his early 20s, the inelegantly named Joe Pug sounds like a man out of time. It's not just his raw voice that makes him sound older but also the reliance on a literate, not to say literary, songwriting style.
These are wordy songs, all from a first person perspective, densely packed with imagery that seem to speak of an imminent yet undefined threat.
Tooled up with just an acoustic guitar and harmonica he fires daunting Dylanesque couplets like "Nothing is for nought/The more I seek the more I'm sought"(Hymn #101) or "If you see me with a rifle, don't ask me what it's for / I fight my father's wars (I Do My Father's Drugs).
The words 'nothing' and 'nobody' occur frequently as though he wants to strip things back to zero to make a clean slate.
|
"There's nothing wrong with doing wrong" he declares enigmatically on Hymn #35.
Of course, as he observes himself on 'Call It What You Will', "words are just words" and accomplished though these 7 tracks are, Pug remains a nowhere man standing earnest witness on a cynical world without giving away much of his own personality.
He seems to be imploring us to feel his pain but reluctant to say precisely where this heartfelt dis-ease stems from.
7t - 24.23 mins
|
