Jason Mcniff - Another Man

by Benjamin Howarth

published: 16 / 3 / 2006

Label: Select Label
Format: CD

Refreshing and surprisingly appealing third album from Dylan-fixated singer-songwriter Jason McNiff

Review

When I first listened to this album I was ready to totally dismiss it. A Londoner whose Dylan impersonation was almost spot on, it seemed faintly ridiculous and totally shameless. But by the end of the album I was already quite enjoying it, and I have listened to it often ever since. McNiff is an interesting character. Only in his 30's, he has travelled across the globe, from his birthplace in Yorkshire, to Turkey and to Egypt(where he found himself briefly married). When he finally returned to London he was able to support the acoustic guitar legend Bert Jansch and released two albums, the second of which was acclaimed by 'Mojo'. But rather than build on this, he was off on his travels around Europe again , finally returning after two and a half years with this, a slight eight song album. But slight it may seem, it is a half hour well spent. Once you realise that this Bob Dylan and Neil Young are all he seems to know, it is much easier to simply enjoy his good songs, fingerpicked guitar and familiar vocals. The hazy style slowly burrows beneath your skull, and the songs then stay there. If he were from America, we’d all be applauding a maverick figure, but as he’s from London no one seems to pay any attention at all. Hopefully that will change. I don’t want to over sell it to anybody. It’s a very low key affair, cheaply recorded and with nothing by way of technical invention. All the songs are gentle affairs. But despite their lack of real originality, I like them all. Its always refreshing, after all, to hear somebody unaffected by the music scene all around them, and that’s what McNiff seems to be.