Born in Bath, Somerset, Jack Cheshire's previous two albums came out of a small attic room at home and from a collaborative project rural Sweden.
His third album is his first studio album; recorded in Sawmills Studio in Cornwall, where he is accompanied by Andrea Di Biase on double bass, Jon Scott on drums and David James Pearson on electric guitar.
These musicians from a jazz background conspire to create what Cheshire's publicists refer to as "nuanced psychedelia" which equates to an uneven mix of English folk and Brit pop.
Cheshire's vocal phrasing is similar to that of Patrick Wolf while the narcotized tone resembles some of Can's dreamier arrangements.
The introspective slant is such that references to poetic landscapes or daydreams seem deliberately detached from humdrum reality.
In Daily Races the singer escapes to "hide out in the tall green grass when the bells are chiming" or else he takes mental excursions with the aid of both illicit and prescription drugs.
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The title track speaks of the former while Postcard From Sedation is about the effects of anaesthesia.
Other topics include social alienation (Into The Void) and sexual fantasies; as in Revolving Doors ("you watch the world from between her thighs").
The single ,Gyroscope, is the best track, conjuring up images of a world in motion though perhaps also spiralling out of control.
Jack comes across as a serious-minded guy and there are some good tunes here but the intensity weighs so heavy that I was left yearning for some lighter moments.
Jack Cheshire's website
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