Love songs are, all too often, known for being sweet, schmaltzy and slightly saccharine affairs, high on romance and sentiment, low on intimacy and honesty. In short they are, generally speaking, dishonest. When I Fell In Love With You is the antidote to all of that. It has a loose and ragged quality, again a great hallmark, immediately indicating that the heart of the song is in the directness and the message rather than any sonic wrapping, any musical ribbons and bows.
And lyrically it seems to unfold like a Kerouac-esque road trip, a shared journey that caused love to bloom as the two lovers take in the sights and sounds, the open roads and the rugged scenery of the world around them. And there is more heart, more emotion, more passion to be found in this sonic journey, a journey to the heart and soul of the country whilst simultaneously navigating to the heart and soul of the characters in question, than a whole album worth of soggy sentimentality and acoustic artists rhyming moon with June and firing off overused platitudes.
Raw, honest and heartwarming…just like life should be.
[…] When I Fell In Love With You was my first taste of Stephen Jacques wonderfully ragged, slightly world-weary rock and roll. I loved it. It reminded me of a wealth of gipsy-rock guitar-slingers from my formative years, ones who understood that it isn’t about polished conformity or echoing commercial sounds, it is about doing what you do with real passion and authenticity. I am pleased to report that the full-length album that spawned the aforementioned single, is a wealth of just such emotions.One Day You’ll Discover kicks things off, marking Jacques out as one of a hallowed gang of brilliantly scuzzy, rock and roll, troubadours such as Johnny Thunders, Nikki Sudden and The Dogs D’Amour in his louche and loose delivery. You can hear the strut and the swagger coming right off the record. Simple Life Man adds a New Wave vibe to the proceedings, Morning Surfers is a pop-stoner hybrid and Charmed To Death is a brooding and bombastic slow-grooving rocker.But it is an album of surprising sweetness too. Songs like Caroline, Voyage To Your Heart and Love For A Moment being as good an alternative, back-street ballad as you are likely to hear in the current age.It’s always a bit of a worry when you hear a cool single, hoping that the album to follow matches the benchmark set by that first taste of an artist. Well, not only is Charmed To Death everything that the first single hinted at, but it is also perfectly named. […]