Now here's a very talented young man to be sure.
Jamie T. (nee Treays) second album 'Kings and Queens'
is, from top to tail, an entertaining and highly
original body of work.
The 11 songs in this new collection build on the strong
foundations laid down in his 2007 debut 'Panic Prevention'.
There is considerably greater maturity in both writing and
production but his raw energy and wit are undiminished.
Sure there's a pinch of this and peck of that in evidence
but Mr T wears his influences and musical loves lightly.
'368' is a powerful opening track.
Dark, disconcerting and electrifying.
'Sticks 'n' Stones' is alone worth the price of the album.
A raucous, driving, pogo-inducing blast of a performance.
Full of hoots and whoops and blistering conviction.
An absolute joy in every way !!
His collaboration with Mr Coupland has resulted in music
of truly exhilarating complexity and imagination.
The calamitous chorus and vigorous vocal delivery of
'The Man's Machine' is a rousing and affecting anthem.
'Emily's Heart' is a stripped down, powerful ballad with a
timelessly convincing quality conveying brutally sculpted emotion.
The finger-picking hokey charm of 'Spider's Web' is funny and smart.
This lad delivers more words per square inch than The Oxford English
Dictionary and Roget's Thesaurus combined.
'Earth, Wind & Fire' is a surreal highlight.
Disjointed, unpredictable but strangely, wonderfully coherent.
Closing track 'Jilly Armeen' is a crazy little masterpiece.
Eccentrically English yet delightfully unconventional.
A riveting and mind-bending achievement.
Essential.