Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun – England’s Dead Single Review (Never Enough Notes Review)

Posted by Sam in Never Enough Notes, Portfolio      No comments

Aug
3

Fusing two different music genres can, at the best of times, either go really well, or really, really badly. Therefore, it’s always a bit of a gamble for bands to try it as the backbone of their sound. Most bands, therefore, stick to the standard ones, pop-punk, punk-rock, etc.  Whilst Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun is probably one of the most obscure names for a band to have been come up with in recent times, their music isn’t to be sniffed at. This, their latest single, entitled England’s Dead, is plenty evidence of that. It’s emotive, well written and really something quite special.

Musically, the first impression is that it’s acoustic based funk, pure and simple. And this impression continues until well over the one-minute mark of the song. In fact it’s at 1:15 (oh, spoiler alert) that the instruments really kick in and the true colours of this song are revealed. Alongside the soft, acoustic vocal sounds are a hard hitting, distorted, crunchy electric guitar sounds that sounds more like punk-rock than folk. It’s a good fusion, actually, giving it an emotive and unique feel, yet with some degree of familiarity at the same time.

Vocally, Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun sound a lot like what one might call a ‘British Billie-Joe Armstrong’ (Green Day, just in case you were wondering). This does even more to ram home idea of the punk-edge to this song, alongside the hefty distortion (very hefty for folk, anyway) and well-placed marching snare. In fact, a folky-sounding, British Green Day is a pretty good way to describe the sound that Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun go for on this track.

One single isn’t long enough to point out anything wrong with this song, it wouldn’t be fair. The only thing to improve is to make more of it. Hopefully, an album or at the very least an EP should happen soon, because this band really have the capacity to go far. That’s really the only advice this reviewer can offer.

So overall, England’s Dead is a great fusion of folk-punk, which sounds like the musical equivalent of putting peanut butter on a digestive. It sounds gross, but it really works, and it’s really, really good. Try it, (the music, not the biscuit), because you might just be pleasantly surprised.

Check out Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun in more detail at http://www.myspace.com/jimlockey.

Read the original article here: http://www.neverenoughnotes.co.uk/2012/08/jim-lockey-and-the-solemn-sun-englands-dead-out-now-xtra-mile-recordings/