Liverpool sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
To some the very thought of putting yourself beyond the self imposed or others jealous limitations is a way of keeping control on life, by inflicting their misery upon others it gives them satisfaction that the world will turn but nobody will do something extraordinary with their time on Earth. Every time an artist, an athlete or the adept produce something it tears a little hole in the dissenter’s heart, they just see it as being Over The Top.
Over The Top it may be but there is nothing exaggerated or excessive about Jump, just a kind of purity of spirit which growls with tension and understanding across the age and the wink, the full blown gesture of defiance, which guides the album along with rage, beauty and fighting poise.
What you ask from in a lyric writer is the sense of occasion that is handled with truth and gravitas, regardless of the genre it is placed within, if it doesn’t contain honesty in the endeavour then it truly means very little, it holds no substance to the poetic form on offer. In John Dexter Jones and Jump, the poetry is sensitive and at times brutal, it is a format that has made the band stand out so much over the years, the lyric, precise, grafted over with sweat and inherent Welsh integrity is enhanced by the sheer gutsy dedication in which the music, slow, exact, powerful, is performed.
It is in that sensitivity to the lyric so beautifully captured by the band that makes each song a story, a tale of a life, become so entwined with intrigue and value; it has long been established within the group that this ethic be stamped across every album and it with wonderful candour to the cause that sees it remain in Over The Top.
The album sits perfectly within the Jump cannon, each song capturing an emotion that you might not necessarily thought you would ever feel, it is the quietness in strength that gains the momentum and holds it in place until the listener is enlightened and exhausted. In tracks such as the tremendous Old Gods, The Vagrant’s Song, This Beach and 9.50, Jump once more attack the failure of systems and the beauty to be found in the everyday, it is the enlargement of the microscopic that charms and the sense of uniting of intensity and fragility that beguiles.
Jump may be one of the best kept secrets in the U.K. but like all secrets they abound with depth and heroic effectiveness when realised and allowed into the hearts. They remain a band that is never Over The Top, just simply refreshing and meaningful to many.
Ian D. Hall