Mutant voodoo blues noise is a great description of your music and a pretty good one at that – sure it’s obvious that the Gun Clubs Jeffrey Lee Pierce looms like a shadow over Saint but there’s more to this artist than that.
It’s been over two years since the debut album on Heavy Medication, and now Warsaw’s Jack Saint is back
Its dark, Tom Waites meets Jim Jones dark as is obvious on “Reap What You Sow” from the outset. The swampy ‘Worry Blues’ is edgy and experimental as the devil in Saint bellows from the vocals with the needle in the red, their Gun-Club-meets-Beasts-of-Bourbon vibe is darker and heavier than before, as the band mixes it up with new sounds and new textures. but even before that, the record opens with the smooth Jazzy ‘Hair of my True Love is Ice-Blond’ something even Nick Cave has dabbled with. Sprawling over five minutes long is a brave opener and you realise straight away that you have to go on this journey with Jack Saint or it’s not worth bothering.
It’s raw and in your face. the more Cramps like ‘Moving On (Freight Train)’ is a bit of a stomper and the more experimental ‘Music Against Nature’ is a messed up hybrid of styles that does and doesn’t work so much as it staggers like a late night with Olly Reid. One of the best tracks is the bruising ‘Severence Till You’ again stuttering and staggering with its heavy guitar sounding like an artillery volley before falling back into the groove.
The album closes with the Fuzztones like keys and guitar funk attack and a head explosion of an album is done. I did enjoy it and will dip in and out over time I’m sure of it. Late-night absynth induced experiences might help make sense of this record more than just playing it on some streaming site it was made to be indulged after dark and I like that and so should you.
Author: Dom Daley
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