Jamie Lenman – Devolver (Big Scary Monsters)
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| Jamie Lenman - Devolver |
Release Date: Out Now
So, this is definitely one of
those situations where anticipation has been building nicely until you’re left
with a real Christmas Eve feeling and then Jamie Lenman drops this album and
suddenly Christmas Day becomes more like the Day of the Dead mixed with Carnivale
in Rio and the best Bank Holiday weekend ever. Imagine that. ‘Devolver’ is not
the end of a particular road for Lenman who went through a hell of a journey
with former band Reuben and then went for a double album as his first release
because, well, why not? No, this is rather the merging from the A Roads of
relative obscurity on to a big three lane motorway that is faster, bigger,
brighter and generally more exciting.
The album opens with ‘Hardbeat’
and an itchy, futuristic rhythm that is more akin to Gorillaz than any of
Lenman’s earlier work apart from a couple of Reuben tracks where they
experimented with electronic processing. As the song evolves, unfolds and opens
up to the sun it reveals itself to be euphoric and hopeful in nature but when
they drums finally arrive we’re in the middle of a Viking knees up and no
mistake. Lenman has announced his arrival and if this isn’t the set opener on
the forthcoming tour then the man can surely only have something more fitting
up his sleeve as this seems the perfect way to start any kind of party. ‘Waterloo
Teeth’ kicks hard with a barrage of guitars and drums in classic style with
aggression, gritted teeth and already we can hear that percussion is a theme on
this album as there are persistent, mechanical rhythms clicking and cracking
away in the background ominously – even when the unhinged children’s choir
joins in.
On ‘Personal’ we have a funky bass
line and Lenman’s vocal taking centre stage singing “looking to the heavens and
singing “come and get me”, I could have been an angel, if they’d only let me”.
Lyrically, Lenman has always been ahead of the pack in terms of choosing words
or images that cut to the quick with a wry smile but the sheer size of the tunes
on this album to back that wit up is next level stuff. ‘Body Popping’ has a
more stripped down and minimalist vibe but again that percussive focus is there
with Peter Gabriel or Talking Heads hints but then a hammering auto-tuned vocal
that, on a loop as it is, could be used as a form of mental torture. In a good
way. I think.
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| Jamie Lenman - not a casting couch |
As much as Lenman is known (quite
rightly) for his abrasive and juggernautical power, he has the ability to cross
that line as he does on the bleak and sparse ‘Comfort Animal’ but before long
we’re back on the road with a tank full of gas; we’re heading for ‘Mississippi’.
The monotone guitar chug allows Lenman to shout his lyrics before the gang
choir joins on with “I can’t let go” and the song builds slowly, ominously like
early Queens of the Stone Age trying to get a track in to the last series of
Twin Peaks. ‘Hell in a Fast Car’ keeps on the freeway with a stuttering beat
and sleazy guitars that scream alongside “We’re going to hell in a fast car
with the top down and no seat belts” like Gary Numan’s bastard son on a bender.
The bass line, beat and guitar that
opens ‘I Don’t Know Anything’ owes more to Chic than any heavy guitar band of
the last 20 years. Lenman disarms with the constant change of pace and throwing
in a funk guitar line with the odd bit of violin is just the kind of move that
makes this album so fresh, engaging and worth a second, third and fourth listen
before you’ve even got to the end of the first listen. Similarly, ‘Bones’ has a
sludgy, grimy bass growl mixed with a prohibition beat and some of the most
tinkling ivories I’ve ever heard on a tune that matches our hero’s new dapper
garb. Another feature of Lenman’s work
is in strong song titles and ‘All of England is a City’ is another peach, as is
the song which explores the concept of the dystopian present that we currently
find ourselves living in….if you can call it living.
Unusually, this album closes with
the title track, ‘Devolver’, which features the haunting, cutting and entirely
self-reflective line “the mistake I often make is how serious I take all my
work and myself when I know full well that really I am irrelevant”. That line
on its own should be written on parchment and given to every struggling artist,
every parent working long hours and missing their children, every 20-something
working three jobs but living with their parents just to save enough money to
get on to the property ladder. Jamie Lenman is irrelevant but, I would argue,
this album is not. As a collection of songs that move a genre forwards this is
hugely important, as a challenge to other music makers out there this is timely
and as a warning to those that would dumb music down ‘for our own good’ this is
bang on the money. Now all we need to do is ensure that his tour in 2018 is a
sell-out because I want all to be part of that crowd singing “I am irrelevant”
back at the stage with relief ridden glee. It would make a belter of a T-Shirt
slogan too.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/jamielenman/
Live Dates:
29th October – Truck Store, Oxford
30th October – Resident, Brighton
11th November – Lenmania @ The Dome, Tufnell Park
w/Employed to Serve + Palm Reader + Bad Sign + Fizzy Blood + The St. Pierre
Snake Invasion + In Dynamics + Broker + Hannah Lou Clark + Jamie Lenman
1st February – O2 Academy 2, Newcastle w/Gender
Roles + Loa Loa
2nd February – Stereo, Glasgow w/Gender Roles +
Loa Loa
3rd February – Academy 3, Manchester w/Gender
Roles + Loa Loa
9th February – O2 Islington Academy, London
w/Gender Roles + Loa Loa
10th February – The Haunt, Brighton w/Gender
Roles + Loa Loa
11th February – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
w/Gender Roles + Loa Loa
16th February – The Hub, Plymouth w/Gender Roles
+ Loa Loa
17th February – Fleece, Bristol w/Gender Roles +
Loa Loa
18th February – The Globe, Cardiff w/Gender Roles
+ Loa Loa
23rd February – Chinnerys, Southend w/Gender
Roles + Loa Loa
24th February – Waterfront, Norwich w/Gender
Roles + Loa Loa
25th February – O2 Institute 3, Birmingham
w/Gender Roles + Loa Loa
Stream the Album: