Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
For anybody over a certain age and who never fulfilled a particular inventive goal, to see a great band produce quality recordings and have the absolute conviction that strides alongside the energy to pull off the artistry is something that the previous generation could only perhaps feel the tiniest bit of jealousy for. Of course the jealousy, if it appears, never lasts long, for the only thing you can do, on either side of the divide that separates one age bracket from another is too wish them well and revel in the dedication that sweat out like the fire from a jet propelled rocket.
The Jackobins, Dominic Bassnett, Veso Mihaylov, John Whittingham, Chris Marriott ad Marc Terry, have already proved themselves on the local stage, their sound is infectious as it is demanding, it asks so much of the listener and the rewards are there for the taking and rightly so. The band’s latest E.P. release, Ghosts, enhances this reputation and offers the listeners and fans more depth, a growing feeling of ease to really get between the lines of the great lyrics and stinging barbed musicianship that glides effortlessly, and more importantly with rage and undiluted character throughout.
The spirit of the times impregnates the future, it sows the seeds for a fruitful forthcoming outlook and in the songs The Otherside, She Always Says, the outstanding Prussia and the E.P. title track, that spirit is more evident than any mere words can justifiably capture. Prussia commands with the authority of a stallion winking coyly and with broadening smile as he is placed into a stud farm or of a meteor crashing with unstoppable force into a fragile mountain, it bubbles with excited glee under the protective armour and is perhaps one of the finest songs so far created by The Jackobins.
Like a firework going off unexpectedly in the deserted streets of an urban setting or the sound of a train as it whistles through what is normally the quiet solitude of the British countryside, Ghosts strikes deep in the psyche hard and fast and rumbles with excited fervour and spirited intensity.
No matter what, existence of Ghosts is a pure and vigorous confirmation of forceful times ahead.
Ian D. Hall