6

Digital Cowboy

'One Man One Guitar' is like Depeche Mode on a robot horse, chewing on silicon hay. With the tinny programmed beats and the bluegrass feel and slightly country lyrics/melody, the blues/T-Rex riff rides on into the sun... leaving you utterly baffled.

'Here Come the Urban Ravens' is the soaring high point of the album. Something quite Nick Cave simmers underneath the country ballad. But you won't be able to get past 'The Skaters', because you'll be dead. That's right... It's so desolate and empty and hurting, that you'll be DEAD. Bare this in mind when it comes seeping through your bastard speakers. Prepare yourself. Write a will.

And if the aforementioned is the musical death, then what follows is a logical conclusion: something a little warped, broken, half-baked and limp. What happened to the momentum? What happened to the horse we rode out of town on, made from television circuits, a drum machines and pieces of used bog roll?

Something doesn't sit right. The soul is apparently out on show, for everyone knows that blues and roots music is based upon the soul and the opening of the melancholy. But for Jackie, he has something missing. Maybe it's tinfoil.