The name Jay Flash may sound like a New York rapper but is in fact a melancholy 27 year old singer songwriter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
This is his third album after The Loser (2008) and Lonesome Heroes (2009), titles that don't exactly set the pulse racing. He sings and plays bass and electric guitar and piano and employs guest musicians and backing singer Kurt Speilmann to flesh out the sound.
His publicists proclaim that Flash's folk-pop tunes explore lyrical themes which "focus on cultural commentary as well as personal struggles with daily life" while the liner notes consist of an earnest rant about America as an "empire that is gradually collapsing" . Flash rails against the commodity orientated state capitalist society for its refusal to change declaring that "this is a rapidly anti Christian nation which despises the values and teachings of the one called Jesus".
Not surprisingly, the mood is predominantly dour and downcast offering very little in the way of hope or salvation to raise the spirits. Some nice piano flourishes add some delicacy but there are too many plodding songs in severe need of an energy rush.
The preachy tone is exemplified in A Night Prayer , the song with the most overtly religious theme; a plea to Jesus to return and put humanity back on track. A wake up call to overturn the apathy before doomsday needs a voice to express a sense of outrage and urgency, but he just sounds maudlin and fatalistic.
A Song To Sing is a 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for' number and is typical of many tracks in that it has the insistent tone of a boy pleading continually to heard, changing the words but essentially repeating the same message over and over. If this is the most irritating track then there's no question that My Country is a the most vicious and uncompromising. In this, Flash derides his homeland in no uncertain terms casting a highly critical eyes on what he sees as an impoverished nation. He documents the down and outs, police brutality, the horror of the war in Iraq and the general godless values which lead him to reject America as home of the free or brave : "I feel no pride in all of your wars and genocides".
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A track with the title Heading For Sunshine raises hopes of a more optimistic tone - but this turns out to be about making a fresh start ("it's been a long year but you've got to go now" ) with more of a wistful than hedonistic tone.
If you prepared to hang in there, Flash's single minded and unwavering voice does gather momentum as the album progresses with the closing three tracks being the best.
I can't for the life of me why the strong title track is left as the penultimate track. And having opened the album with the portentous 'Verdict' he concludes twelve tracks later with a more positive mood of ' Moment' which is by some way the best tune here. Underpinned by a warm dreamy Animal Collective style pulse, this speaks of a breezy "energy that passes through all languages".
These brief highs come too late to redeem an album that, like Flash himself, seems weighed down by the burden of the world's woes.
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