Jack Peñate, After You, Album Review


Jack Peñate
After You
Album Review


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Listen on Apple Music

We're now approaching the end of the year, and this makes it much harder for me to carry on reviewing albums, for I will soon need to compile a number of lists. However, this album certainly seemed interesting enough for me to want to review, and quickly fit into the 2019 catalogue.

Despite this essentially being my introduction into the musical world of this London-based indie artist, the third addition to Jack's discography was long overdue. After the release of his previous album, 2009's Everything Is New, it took a decade for this newest chapter to arrive.

Jack travelled across the globe, looking for inspiration to put towards the creation of After You. This definitely shows well, with the album collectively sounding quite culturally diverse. While to me, it feels just as accessible as any indie album should, this album boldly ventures towards more of a world-music feel.

I feel that I would've only been able to review this album fairly if I went further back and gave his previous projects a listen. Therefore, I went ahead and did just that.

In comparison to After You, both Everything Is New, and his debut LP, Matinée are far more upbeat, and truer to the classic 2000's indie aesthetic. I would say that these two projects combine similar styles to the likes of The Killers and Foals. The Foals feel especially applies to Everything Is New.

Fast forward back to 2019 and After You, however, and we are presented with something really quite different. It is far more stripped-back, atmospheric, and quite frankly artistic than either of its predecessors. I would say that After You is much more comparable to something from Pink Floyd or David Bowie.

Another great thing that I love about this album, is how marvellously different instrumentation is used. While this works better for some tracks than others, it still succeeds to add a bit more uniqueness to each of them.

Even track 6 "Gemini", which I would consider to be an interlude, stands as a memorable point on the album for its progressive piano melody, and the haunting spoken word piece included towards the end.

I'm actually unsure as to what my favourite track might be on this (which is usually another good sign of a good album). But if I was pushed for an answer, I would say either the third track "Round and Round", which has a great rhythm, and a very pleasing and arabesque melody from the strings. The other would be the penultimate track "Ancient Skin", which is gorgeous from the get-go with its dreamy and wondrous electric guitar melody, and also has a glorious progression.

Despite being a little late to the party when it comes to my knowledge of  Jack Peñate, this record was definitely enough to get me on-board. And now that I also know a bit more of the context behind this album, and the shift in style, I am very exited to see where he takes his music next.


Thank you for reading.

Booth Boy

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