For years we waited with anticipation and wondered to ourselves: “where’s Jamie T gone, man?”
After the lovable troubadour’s five year hiatus he answered the call last September with his astonishing third studio album, ‘Carry On The Grudge’. Jamie’s comeback was so well received that he nabbed himself the NME award for the greatest musical moment of 2014, and rightly so!
One month ago (April 6) Jamie brought out his follow up EP: ‘Magnolia Melancholia’. If you loved his latest album and are craving more like an addiction then this is just what the Doctor ordered.
Chronologically speaking, the EP isn’t as fresh as his latest full-length album, instead it’s compiled from older tracks and covers written during his break. Over the course of this powerful EP you can almost hear his painful transformation from a young, ten-a-day, street-smart scallywag into the new, older and wiser Jamie T who just radiates maturity.
The gloomy cover for this gloomy EP
‘Magnolia Melancholia’ is kick-started with the familiar ‘Don’t You Find’, which was featured first on ‘Carry On The Grudge’. A powerful song that perhaps feels more at home on this EP with its downbeat instrumentals and angst-driven lyrics.
The rest of the EP follows suit and when it’s all put together is quite a thunderous and dramatic package.
‘Marilyn Monroe’ is also a note worthy tune making its entrance into Jamie T’s repertoire, with a prominent and driving bass this track tugs at your feet and you may find yourself stamping along until you need to take a lie down. Coated with bouncy lyrics that slip off the tongue it’s hard not to fall in love with this hard-boiled song.
After you’ve recovered from the intensity of ‘Marylyn Monroe’, we’re steered into a Bran Van 3000 cover called ‘Mama Don’t Smoke’. This is an excellently airy cover with lyrics that focus on getting stoned. The strumming is effortlessly calm and the singing is warm and inviting, like being personally beckoned over by Jamie to twos a cigarette with him. There’s some vocal distortion that adds even more to the character of this great track which makes it stand out even more amongst the rest of the EP.
The lead song ‘Magnolia Melancholia’ is a very personal song that pulls on the heartstrings. This is just one of many exhibitions of Jamie’s comprehensive song-writing and story telling ability. The lyrics give us a peer into the world of the person that is Jamie T and perhaps divulge more than any interview ever could. Jamie’s voice passionately serenades as he reminisces over his story about a mother, a friend and a broken heart.
Underneath the strained and hard-hitting lyrics is howling backing that creates an aura of emotion that’ll have you screaming at the top of your lungs “MAGNOLIA MELANCHOLIAAAHH!!!!” Between the verses are bright 1960s styled surf-rock, jingle-jangle-esque guitar licks and tin-y vibrating organs that bounce around inside your head and give momentum to this beautifully heavy song.
Another stand out on this EP is ‘Riverbed’. It starts quite clumsily with twanging acoustics before softening out as the engine gets running with hypnotic drumming and shoe-gazing styled vocals. However the song ends in a culmination of noise that can only be described as a eruption of mess that draws from 90s alternative rock. The lyrics deal with regret and old mistakes and Jamie definitely hits home with this track.
As the EP is winding down, we come to our last (but absolutely not least) track, ‘Bastards Of Young’; a strong and hypnotic track with light acoustic strumming and forlorn vocals. This Replacements cover highlights Jamie’s aptitude at being a great guitarist as he elegantly closes off his most recent masterpiece.
‘Magnolia Melancholia’ is a lot bluer than his earlier material but it’s been 5 long years and Jamie T has clearly grown up. An army of loyal fans are ecstatic to have Jamie T back in their lives and much to our relief, he’s not going away any time soon, and this follow up EP is a testament to that.
