(I’m not even going to try to be objective about this “review”, if you can even call it such, because I have such respect and admiration for this artist that anything he does is all right with me.)
Jeremy James has released his latest EP – Such Noble Men – and like his last album, Landlocked, this one is a delicious treat that saw me through the winter months and beyond. Given the political climate of New York State, and the recent defeat of gay marriage here, James is in timely fighting shape, but rather than attack and divide, he raises questions and issues, looking to unite and understand, but never take a back seat.
Opening with “With All Due Respect to Mister Heston”, the first track delivers a plaintive but powerful indictment of guns in this country, calling out the NRA and Charlton Heston with seething, righteous anger that is a compelling challenge to the hate-filled tea party. I usually don’t like political songs, but James backs this one up with a lovely, easygoing tune brilliantly at odds with his topic.
The highlight of this all-too-brief set is easily “Boombox”, with its beautiful meandering melody and heartbreaking lyrics. Here James laments and honors the passing of a relationship, the back-and-forth of blame, and the bittersweet way we remember such lost love:
“Looking back on all those times when we were hand in hand/
Toe to toe, we were good to go with no lines drawn in the sand
Like on the beach we were chin deep in the Gulf of Mexico/
I thought I’d always see your face there bobbing to and fro
But I can’t hold on to anything long enough to see it through/
And of all the ones that slipped through my fingers the hardest to hold was you.”
The simple, heartfelt longing to marry the person we love is personified in the subtle gay marriage anthem “Sunset”, melding the political and the personal in one simple fell swoop. James doesn’t so much attack or challenge, but rather chooses the high-ground and simply states that our right to marry will not endanger anyone else’s family or rights.
“You know what they say about love and marriage
And all the weight that those words can carry
It’s an institution for the privileged kind
It’s the dictation of what ties can bind
And if there’s one thing that my eyes have seen
It’s that there’s no such thing as normalcy
It’s not the law that makes a family
But the way that I melt when you look at me.”
That last line is the key, unlocking the sometimes-overlooked notion that we are not just talking about a law or a right, we are talking about one person’s love for another. However long it takes for this backward state to reach the righteous point where gay marriage is legal, James makes it clear that it’s always been about that love.
Such Noble Men makes up for its leaner length with slightly meatier songs, resulting in a denser soundscape than his earlier work on Landlocked. Case in the point is the grittier “Indian Giver”, where James releases the hardest rocker of this set. It could be a new American anthem, with its cries of “freedom”, but it’s also a clever condemnation of what this country has done to itself.
Perhaps James’ greatest strength lies in his way with stark lyrical images, evidenced most perfectly in closing track “Kilcrease Road”:
“There’s a half-drank beer on the front porch
And a breaking heart just through the door
Where’s the place you once called home
Where’s the love she’ll never know
Kilcrease Road, a cloud of dust
All these cars left out to rust
A broken fence, a barking beast
A shotgun shell lain at his feet
Who made the rules that never bend
Even when the scales seem your friend
Who’s gonna quench the vengeful thirst
Would the world be any worse.”
This is musical poetry at its most haunting and moving, leaving just enough room for ambiguity and personal readings while pinpointing something so individually specific you’ll wonder how he got so deep into your head. Backed with the trademark tenderness of his voice and a gently driving guitar, it’s a gorgeous end to a wonderful sonic journey. About the only thing that I can find fault with here is the fact that five songs is just too short of a collection for anyone who’s a fan.
{You can order Jeremy James’ latest Such Noble Men HERE, along with his other music.}
