As the frenetic pace of opening track \u201cDefend Rosie\u201d comes to a close, Static Jacks\u2018 lead singer Ian Devaney leans into the mic, and in a throaty charge yelps \u201cI\u2019ve seen the future, you\u2019ll never guess what the fuck is coming next.\u201d<\/p>\n
While I\u2019m not sure if Devaney is speaking to the future of Missouri\u2019s gerrymandered districts, Asian fusion restaurants or gold prices on the Vienna Stock Exchange, when it comes to the Jacks\u2019 debut album If You\u2019re Young I\u2019ll let you in on a secret: The future is a mirror image of the three minutes proceeding Devaney\u2019s profane pronouncement. The foursome uses galloping guitars, pounding drums and youthful exuberance for a 12-song collection of typical hooky tunes that share an affinity with punk bands from across the pond \u2013 the band hails from Westfield, New Jersey but Westfield, England is more like it.<\/p>\n
The trio of songs at the album\u2019s outset race out the speakers, as the aforementioned \u201cDefend Rosie,\u201d \u201cGirl Parts\u201d and \u201cInto the Sun\u201d employ shouted lyrics, hand claps and a squelching punk-light guitar to keep you moving enough to remain interested.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not ground-breaking but not too bad, either.<\/p>\n
Devaney and company veer from the pop-punk formula on a handful of songs, and though it doesn\u2019t always work, I\u2019ll give them credit for trying. \u201cSonata (Maybe We Can Work It Out)\u201d is the Jacks\u2019 attempt at a ballad, and comes across too mellow and sweet for it\u2019s own good, quickly evident when the accompanying \u201cWalls (We Can\u2019t Work It Out)\u201d turns up the guitar chirps and tempo potency. \u201cMercy, Hallelujah\u201d works where \u201cSonata\u201d doesn\u2019t, as it jangles with Brit-pop glee, a gleaming dance track which benefits from Devaney singing instead of screaming. \u201cRelief\u201d is a little slice of salsa, with a vocal styling channeling The Outfield circa 1985.<\/p>\n
If You\u2019re Young limps to a close \u2014 \u201cIt\u2019s Such a Shame\u201d and \u201cDrano-Ears\u201d hardly uncover fresh territory \u2014 but it doesn\u2019t keep from making the album a moderate success. I doubt the band knows the future beyond this set of songs, but I could guess there\u2019s room for added exploration.<\/p>\n
Then again, the Static Jacks might not give a fuck, which would be refreshing as well. After all, that\u2019s really what punk is all about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the frenetic pace of opening track \u201cDefend Rosie\u201d comes to a close, Static Jacks\u2018 lead singer Ian Devaney leans into the mic, and in a throaty charge yelps \u201cI\u2019ve seen the future, you\u2019ll never guess what the fuck is coming next.\u201d While I\u2019m not sure if Devaney is speaking to the future of Missouri\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[295,296],"class_list":["post-1200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-review-if-youre-young","tag-static-jacks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1200"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1211,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions\/1211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}