I remember my sophomore year of high school in an intensely vivid haze. That is, I can recall innumerable experiences and findings that bore no significance to becoming a better person.
Sophomore year of high school is really interesting because it appears to be about the time that a person starts getting good at things, but still isn’t quite responsible for anything at all.
Perhaps that shaky relationship between new skill and immaturity instilled some level of hubris as a 15-year-old. In this case the hubris might be justified because that year I found Spotify, and I found what might be the most important thing a person can find: a friend with whom I could talk about music.
His name was Spencer, and we combed Spotify’s depths in some kind of convoluted teenage angst to find all of the lo-fi music that existed.
In those first weeks of Spotify, Spencer told me about Bombay Bicycle Club, a young British “indie” rock band. I exhausted myself listening to songs like “Always Like This” and “How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep,” but I never gave them as much attention as I should have.
It wasn’t until my first year of college that I gave their entire album a chance. Their full-length debut from 2009, “I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose,” became the most played and cherished album of my first year away from home.
It was bittersweet though. As happens with great bands, mere months before I had seriously gotten into Bombay Bicycle Club they decided to go on indefinite hiatus.
Those circumstances, in turn, cultivated the most exuberant and genuine “No way!” to ever leave my mouth when I discovered Jack Steadman, lead singer of Bombay Bicycle Club, had started a solo project under the name “Mr. Jukes.”
It wasn’t Bombay Bicycle Club, but the singles released in April of 2017 were raw power. The album itself, “God First,” was released mid-July—just in time for it to become the album of the summer along with Tyler, The Creator’s “Flower Boy.”
“God First” opens softly on what sounds like a marimba. A quick snare transition sets the mood for the rest of the album. The harsh snare blatantly juxtaposes with the soft beginning strings and marimba.
This is not unlike how Mr. Jukes sounds compared to Bombay Bicycle Club. Bombay Bicycle Club was always sweet and almost contemplative. Mr. Jukes, however, is calmingly intentional and powerful. Though independent, the styles are complementary, and “God First” has a certain richness and interdisciplinary respect for genre that Bombay Bicycle Club’s work did not always carry.
Steadman takes a vocal backseat on “God First,” allowing for beautiful features that provide the album with genre nuances. Tracks “Somebody New,” “Grant Green” sung by Charles Bradley, and “From Golden Stars Comes Silver Dew” all carry a pleasant mixture of Funk, Soul, and R&B overtones.
A month after the album’s release, I am starting to accept it not as a temporary fix until Bombay Bicycle Club ends their hiatus, but rather as its own independent work of which I look forward to hearing more.
This album is a strong eight out of ten for me, and I can’t wait to see what Steadman continues to produce.