Labels: Jade Tree Records
Review by: Damien Mills
One more in a long line of guys from biggish bands doing acousticy solo projects, in this case former frontman of the excellent Handsome and current Jets to Brazil bassist Jeremy Chatelain, and his NYHC mates (who includes most of JtB and Rival Schools).
So sure there are lots of this type of record around but to be honest it’s usually something I’m big into anyway, I was a big fan of Handsome, and while this is a million miles away from thier big riffing Helmet-meets-Quicksand rock it’s nice to hear that the talented Chatelain has found a new outlet after being relegated to Blake Schwarzenbach’s bass player for the last few years.
The songs themselves actually have a full band backing for the most part but the emphasis is always on Jeremy, who hasn’t got the strongest voice ever maybe, but is confident enough in his abilities to carry it off convincingly, infact, it almost makes it all sound more personal than just another big rock guy vanity project like so many of these things, I guess he knows his limits enough not to embarass himself. He probably doesn’t even think about it and is just a naturally humble guy…maybe.
So, as a token acoustic based indie side-project, there aren’t a whole lot of wild surprises really, but that is fine by me. It’s not gonna be for everyone, but there’s nothing wrong with that. For those wanting simple peaceful songs for lying around at home in the summer wishing they had a porch to swing on, this is aces