Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The idea that creativity can endure in a stark environment is one that is surely out of synch with reality, at best the sterile thoughts of pursuit are hokum, at worst it has all the hall marks of the barren mind making excuses not to have lived the life they talk of.
An artist worth their salt arguably does not live in a world to which the sterilised gives them meaning, that the narrow inflicted, disinfected illusion to hygiene is somehow stimulating; instead the history of defining inspiration must surely arrive from the constant regard to all that is unpolished, the invigoration of verbal intoxication and the encouragement of the Fag Ash and Beer that leaves its mark in the dust, bringing forth pictures that illuminate and provoke thought.
It is perhaps an allusion to the days when such practises were praised, the poet at the desk scratching out lines and the well-worn creases in the face that marked out time, that makes the debut album by Jake Aaron, Fag Ash and Beer one of responsibility to an era in which detail was never mislaid or omitted, and in which sits comfortably in the arena of passionate predicament.
With Jake Aaron being joined by Steve Lodder on keys, David Mantovani, Guy Pratt on bass on Give Me Your Horse, Marc Parnell on drums and Steve Waterman on trumpet, songs such as Elvis Has Left The Building, Genevieve Alright, Jonah Part 1, Late Night Radio and Give Me Your Horse the build-up is impressive and is akin to finding a sack full of treasure neatly wrapped in colourful paper and trying to resist the temptation to undo them all whilst nobody is looking.
Some songs are always meant to be shared in a greater capacity than others, some have a history to them even before they have been played, Fag Ash and Beer is such an album that inhabits the listener’s mind before they even realise it; an album which doesn’t squander a moment in its delight of being held up as an example of substance, a bag full of fascinating ideas brought to life.
Jake Aaron releases Fag Ash and Beer on 6th September
Ian D. Hall