Jake Bugg’s debut album seemingly came out of nowhere, with mediocre single sales (Lightening Bolt peaking at 26 was the best performer) it didn’t appear like it would have the impact desired, but it did and went straight to number one. A number one album, a pyramid stage performance at Glastonbury and a headline spot at Reading’s NME/Radio 1 tent thrusted Jake Bugg into stardom but did the album justify these achievements?
With arguably the three best songs as the opening tracks, when listening to Jake Bugg you’re already in the right frame of mind to enjoy the rest of the album. Bugg has a very distinctive, unique voice that makes him stand out against other male solo acts around at the moment such as Tom Odell and the rest of the album is enjoyable, if not a bit repetitive. Some of the songs begin to echo each other and often sound incredibly similar but on the whole it’s a great debut.
Broken and Simple As This are particular highlights for me and Bugg’s voice subtly toned down is brightened with the ever current acoustic sound. This is a particular positive, it’s good to see Bugg sticking to his roots and his individual sound by continuing to use acoustic guitars and not being tempted to over produce with other instruments such as drums added, Country Song epitomises this.
Obviously, taking inspiration from instrumental figures of the genre from Bob Dylan to The Jam, it’s a breath of fresh air to hear a young British voice bring a tinge of individuality to the ever depleting indie rock genre.
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