Make mine a single malt.
Any track that opens with the lyric: "It's good for the soul/To drown the senses in alcohol" scores an extra point from me straight off the bat. If that sounds silly, sue me. I am going to ask for that extra point back though, because the Mr Jack of the title refers to Jack Daniels; a drink that tastes, in my opinion at least, like the dregs from a cat's litter bin after filtration through the gullet of a beaver suffering with the shits.
However, my penchant for good whiskey and a resolute rebuttal of a product so cynically marketed it makes those loan company adverts you see on daytime Channel Five palatable, should not be taken as a reflection on 'Mr Jack'...which is actually alright.
Anyone remember The Way Out? No? Well you're probably too young to remember 'This Life' (or too poor to fork out for the 'This Life' DVD box set - we've all been students) which was a very big television hit in the 1990s. Many cultural commentators rave about it now; whistlin' dixey about how twenty-somethings across the U.K. had finally found a drama they could relate to; one that tackled adult issues in an adult way and was proper grown-up and everything. Maybe it did. That's not why I watched it. I was born in the late 1970s and the only reason I sat there with an oven dinner on my lap was due to some kid at school telling me that the characters in it swore a lot, drank a lot, smoked a lot, took drugs a lot and shagged a lot. To me, 'This Life' was the flagship of responsible programming.
Anyway, I digress. The reason I mention 'This Life' is because its iconic theme tune (performed by The Way Out - you see I can remember how I got here) sounds a lot like 'Mr Jack'. Or should that be the other way round? Anyway, they've both got fat production values, multi-tracked guitars with a catchy melody and simple but spot-on drumming. Two major differences are that 'Mr Jack' has got words and an insane guitar solo (courtesy of Stevie). Please check it out: it's worth the 79p. It may not organically rise out of the music but it's a cracker all the same.
'Mr Jack' isn't offensive; it's not in-yer-face flagrant rock n' roll like 'This Life' was. It's just...well...alright. It's grown-up indie-rock for grown-up indie rockers - a bit like 'Bergerac'.
The debut album is out later this year and based on the evidence of 'Mr Jack', it may not be an one of this year's essential purchases. But you'd be putting your hard-stolen cash to a better use than...I dunno...buying a bottle of Jack Daniels. Then again, you could always try acting like a grown-up and buy a bottle of Soave instead...
N.B. If you've never watched 'This Life', you won't get that last gag - and I'm not going to apologise either. Got it?