Generally for most Australian artists, it’s all about breaking the local market before heading off into the wide world. Singer-songwriter Jacob Butler opted to take his guitar driven pop-rock material OS and managed to ink several licensing deals, get radio airplay and physical release in Europe and South Africa before his LP Reason even saw the light on local shelves here in Australia. Gauging the international response thus far, it’s fair to say this record may make some waves locally.
Our opening track ‘Come My Way’ is an immediate head turner, mainly because it’s just so damn catchy. Fast flowing drums and guitars and wistful vocals that seemingly blend without being too non-distinct. We’re immediately then thrust into the frenetically paced in-your-face ‘UKOK’ and it’s fairly obvious that Butler has kept the production on this record focused on the guitars as the forefront instrument.
Even his foray into a rock ballad ‘Kites’ still manages to keep them at the fore, but this time with some finely edged synth overlay and chuck in some large soaring vocals; there’s a lot of beautiful layers in this song, and it’s the little things like the subtle backing vocals and orchestration that make it so sweet. The track ‘Ghost’ is more of a traditionalist ballad however; with softly strummed acoustic guitar and pleading lyrics that then builds into this uniquely edgy but simultaneously gentle song courtesy of a not too over the top crescendo. “Can you see me, fall freely…when you left me there your love is like a ghost” Butler croons.
Interestingly tracks like ‘Shame’, ‘It Might Seem Complicated’ and ‘Jekyll Over Hyde’ showcase a sound not too dissimilar to the 90’s brit-rock bands of Feeder and Oasis with some distortion and haze as well as songs that are driven by the melody and brash guitars. ‘Time Gets You Down’ sounds a lot like Stereophonics, with its grinding guitar production and fuzzy vocals and rolling chorus. I can’t immediately think of any bands that are really emulating this sound nowadays so in some ways it feels like a fresh take on an established nostalgic genre. Oddly enough ‘A Thousand Lies’ is a personal highlight out of the tracks. I can’t quite place my finger on why I enjoy this song so much. Potentially it’s a combination of the slow quiet verses being so distinct against the fast much louder chorus, there’s just something I found interesting about the song.
There’s some really solid tracks on Reason, it’ll be interesting to see the support given to a completely independent artist across mainstream media and whether all the international attention early on can be replicated on the local market.
Review Score: 7.9 out of 10
Reason is out now through Red Rebel Music and available on iTunes.
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