ARTIST: Jack Penate
TITLE: Spit At Stars
LABEL: XL Recordings
GENRE: Rock
TIME: 17:36 min
SIZE: 22,0 MB
RIP DATE: May-05-2007
RELEASE DATE: Apr-16-2007
WEBSITE: n/a
Track List:
01. Spit At Stars 02:35
02. My Yvonne 04:16
03. Didn't I 03:56
04. Cold Thin Line 03:11
05. Jack Of All Trades 03:38
Release Notes:
Jack Penate is a difficult artist to quantify and
get a handle on. Outwardly, he seems extremely
fresh, happily devoid of most of the faux-ragga
swagger of several of his inevitable contemporaries,
but there are inward elements to this EP at least
that stunt his growth. In influence, we see an '80s
hall of fame featuring a vocal hybrid of Kevin
Rowland and Morrissey and, on the title track, a
near-plagiaristic use of a Husker Du chorus. Ah
well, he probably hasn't heard New Day Rising for a
few years now.
Those inward elements, though, are implicit of a
well-schooled musical upbringing but
none-too-original execution. You can't find much
fault with the ramshackle white soul of the slower
numbers here, but the listener can't help but feel
like this should be better than it actually is. The
relentless and restless yammering of 'Cold Thin
Line' is admirably cod, but never explodes in the
way it should. Similarly, the closing 'Jack Of All
Trades' should, for all its niceties, be sweeter and
more considered.
This, Jack Penate, is your problem: ideas need to be
boiled a little harder, solidified and executed with
less cliche and more pizzazz.