Jake Morley: Many Fish To Fry

[John (Biscuits and Gravy) Davy]

 

www.jakemorley.com

Londoner Jake Morley is a one-off, making sounds and writing songs that sound like no-one else I've ever heard. If it wasn't pretty much an acoustic album I would characterise "Many Fish To Fry" as a pop album: this is bright, sparkly music, easy to engage with and there's two or three songs you could easily imagine on daytime rotation but when it comes to it, nobody seems to sustain a chart career on acoustic music.  Then again, Jake Morley might turn out to be the exception that proves a rule because the best of his music here is truly infectious.

       He has first and foremost attracted attention for his unique, virtuoso style on the acoustic guitar.  Setting the guitar on his lap, he'll get a rhythm going on one of those gizmos that'll let you be your own rhythm section and then bangs, slaps and plucks the strings in such a mesmerising way that it sounds like piano and guitar and drums all together. That's great, and his youtube performances have been quite a hit, but it's the performance of his own unique songs that'll make him a real success.  He writes in the persona of a city boy in love with life and prepared to lay his heart on his sleeve. There's a quirky humour at work as he smiles wryly at himself; his open-heartedness is so disarming that you just want to cheer him along and hope all turns out well as he follows the adventures life throws up.  My two favourite songs are pretty much as quirky as they come: "Pondering On A Scenario (In Which I'm The Hero)" is a really charming bit of daydreaming with some great lines that seek to amuse whilst remaining true to this slightly geeky persona that he's created. "Be With Me Once More" has our hero protesting his love with something of a rooster's strut married to a lyric that uses the most banal metaphors for comic effect: more and more of these metaphors come flooding out as the song picks up speed with the air of a real old barroom knees-up.

        There's a fine band alongside Jake and the acoustic bass in particular is warm and slinky; Jake's voice is quite bright and sweet so that bass gives some very valuable depth to the overall sound. I said this was pretty much an acoustic album; well, I'm not sure there's anything electric in there apart from some keyboards but there's some big production going on nonetheless. The lead single, I believe, is "Feet Don't Fail Me Now" which is not really characteristic of the album as a whole but does probably have the biggest production number done on it. Handclaps, lots of percussion and some gospel-style back up singing all contribute to what is perhaps the most obviously radio friendly song but there's much more to Jake Morley than this suggests and my guess is that we will get to hear plenty of him in the next twelve months.

John Davy