I’m sure that I’m not the first to notice that Stephen Jacques has a voice like Joe Strummer traveling along the California Trail in 1843 (even more pertinent given that his previous album, Pioneers and Fragrant Flowers, was woven out of a reevaluation of many of the themes associated with the opening up of the American West.) But better to have an original (lived in, unique and interesting ) voice than a technically perfect (conformist, inauthentic…boring) one, don’t you think? Well, I certainly do.
This first release from his next album, Les Surfeurs De Santa Cruz, still sees him heading west, but instead of the lure of gold fields and a new life, it is the California breakers and the titular surf mecca that we see him heading to.
And he tells his tale with his usual mix of muscle and melody, raw riffs and deft guitar lines, sixties double beat groove and the sort of folk-punk singer-songwriter ethic that would have made the likes of Nikki Sudden or Johnny Thunders recognize him as one of his own.
With a whole album of sun, sea and surf songs following on from this, it looks like it is going to be the soundtrack to a great summer, so sit back, stay hydrated, lather up with the sun factor fifty, and bathe in Stephen Jacques’s sonic rays.
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