What initially strikes you about the debut EP from House of Brothers, aka Andrew Jackson, is how beautifully sparse the recording is. Each of the instruments, including Jackson’s impeccable vocals, are given space to breath and inhabit their own space. The title track is a delicate tale of mystery. The skittish acoustic guitar is perfectly played, each chord striking a place straight through to your heart. There are some faint strings, a piano and some percussion, but they never detract from the song itself. They’re just this to augment it and give it some additional weight.

“Electric Light” is a little more uptempo and fleshed out. It comes across as something Elliott Smith would have included on his final albums. The almost double tracked vocals are layered over some lush piano and drum accompaniment. The song itself though is introspective, finishing with the refrain “Don’t wake me, I want to be alone”.

Standout track though is “These Days”. It’s almost as if Nick Drake has been transported into the 21st Century. A tale of modern life through its trappings and degenerating relationships; “can you draw me a map of, this place and where we are”, “sitting in my bed all day, reminds me of you”. The gentle acoustic guitar takes centre stage with additional strings and drums expertly used to flesh it out.

This entire EP is a perfect lesson in how to record a singer/songwriter. Each of the songs is only about the words and what the artist is trying to convey. The use of strings etc that seems to be used by artists to automatically convey certain feels and emotions are actually used perfectly on Deadman. Fleshing out the great songs and emotionally raw lyrics that Jackon has conjured up. Whilst some of the tracks sound a little brash and raw, almost demo like, in quality, this just hints at great things to come from one of the artists to watch in 2008.
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Links
House of Brothers [myspace]