Jacoba - Easy Listening For Foreigners

  by Philip Vincent

published: 26 / 3 / 2005

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Review

"Prepare to be blown away" says Mike Davies from the Lock-up on Radio 1, a comment which is reprinted on the sleeve of Jacoba's debut album, 'Easy Listening for Foreigners'. Wow ! What can I possibly write after such a statement ? Well, I wouldn't say blown away, but maybe wafted with some force. This is a lot better than most of the other post hardcore which makes the shops. Obvious references include Muse (especially on the first single 'Deeper') which ain't too bad a thing as Muse are pretty cool. Having listened to this album a few times, I have to say that the main thing that strikes me about it is how different each track is. At some points this almost becomes a problem with so much changing about that it could become disjointed if it wasn't for the voice of lead singer and main songwriter Geoff Murphy who holds the entire album together. Although he sounds a little American in places (the band are from the Isle of Man as a matter of fact), Murphy generally has a good rock voice. He isn't quite in the league of Freddie Mercury or Matt Bellamy but with a few more years of Jack Daniels abuse he should be getting somewhere close! If you like your music powerful melodic with a touch of falsetto vocals then you will no doubt like this. I am sure before long Jacoba will be fighting for column space in those hallowed halls of NME and Kerrang.

Track Listing:-

1 Full View Area
2 Deeper
3 Marquis Hudspeth
4 Africandy
5 Better Off Dead
6 Here It Is
7 Liquid
8 Sleep On It
9 Stand Up
10 Wow
11 Turn It Over
12 Deeper (Video)