Jack Penate – Everything Is New

Progression and change can be wonderful, especially in the music world. However, these factors can also often produce music that is cringeworthy, and quite horrible (Lil' Waynes Prom Queen anybody?). When an artist has the courage to alter his or her style in such a significant way, whether it be for personal satisfaction or just to keep up with the trends, what inevitably follows can either be an eye-opener or a nail in the career coffin for the hopeful creator.

Take Jack Penate. His debut album Matinee was a mockney sing-along masterpiece, often walking that tightrope between heartfelt and corny but thankfully never fully straying to the cheesy side. But Matinee was released in 2007, and you could effectively walk that particular line that year, given that Jack was at the forefront of the acoustic troubadour movement. In this future world of 2009, if Jack Penate was to attempt another Matinee effort, he would most likely get panned for being...well...crap?

So kudos to you Jack. You've made the right move. With Everything Is New, Mr Penate has completely reinvented his style, transforming it from in your face busking fodder to something more subtle and well thought out. It's a charming collection of songs, an interesting curio of an album (much like The Maccabees newest effort) that goes to show that you can move forwards without becoming... well...Lil Wayne.

However, for those of you that have no doubt encountered the press for Everything Is New, don't expect too much. The pure amount of hype for this sophomore release has left many convinced that it will be a house/afrobeat/breakbeat/hyphy/industrial onslaught on the senses. Wherever you turn in the P.R. world you will find some journo or press release monkey touting the total re-invention angle. And one can't help but think that some people may be disappointed when they finally wade through all of this grey matter and get a listen at the album. It is new to Jack Penate no doubt, but to the rest of us, it's not anything that we haven't heard before. Not that that is a problem, by any stretch of the imagination.

Most of the tracks are beautifully crafted, if not occasionally suffering from the curse of the well-worn chord progression. Album opener 'Pull My Heart Away' sounds sometimes like The Cure, but the bass line is tedious and often distracting from the enchanting production. And the afro-dance beat, while well-suited to most of the mid-way tracks on 'Everything Is New' is nothing that Vampire Weekend hasn't already rammed down our throats. 'Tonight's Today' is somewhat a hybrid of V.W. and The Rapture at their more sedate moments, a complimentary accompaniment to Jack's wistful voice and the generous backing vocals. 'Give Yourself Away' is a stunning track, eclectic in composition, with gritty saturated guitars playing off against high pitched female vocals. It's swathed in a heavy reverb atmosphere and peppered with party percussion. Every piece fits perfectly. But that's it. Nothing jumps out at you, it just waits for you, the listener, to discover it.

And this constant ebb-and-flow is what haunts me throughout listening to this album. The songs are filled with passion and the change in music finally pulls Jack Penate away from the 'happy busker' stereotype and into serious artist territory. However, I can't help but feel like i'm expecting more. A crazy rock breakdown, an electro drop, something to justify the hype that this album has been allotted. If it had been released with less fanfare, and if people were allowed to be properly surprised on their own terms, I think Everything Is New would have had the potential to reach a far wider fanbase then his current followers, as it has a sound that is appealing to a much wider audience than Matinee ever could have hoped to achieve. If albums could hope, that is.

But this isn't about the bad spin and horrible press. Everything Is New is enjoyable, solid and stunning (in its own understated way). It isn't a career U-turn, more of a gentle curve into new territory. So for anyone who was too put off by Matinee's cheery, overtly optimistic sound, Everything Is New is a very good reason to give Jack Penate a second chance. 80%