Jimi
Hendrix is well and truly alive! Well, not quite, but
The Squire Of Somerton, namely Toby Jenkins, demonstrates
that proper rock’n’roll music is well and
truly alive. As he declares on exergue of the press release:
“The god of my everything is rock”. Far from
the formulaic and mindless punk-core championed by most
of today’s teenage angst-ridden bands, Jenkins weaves
an ingenious and delicate soundtrack.
Transverberations is a far cry from the voluptuous folk/electronic
soundscapes of Fort Lauderdale, the duo Jenkins formed
with Steve Webster in the late nineties. Born in Bristol,
where he spent if formative years, he got his first guitar
when he was just 12, before turning to piano some years
later, eventually combining his classical roots with more
modern sounds in Fort Lauderdale, intentionally bringing
together the distinction of Satie, the experimentalism
of Roxy Music and the dilettantism of contemporary electronica
in a fireworks of sounds and emotions.
Shaping epic circumvolutions of sulphurous beauty, Jenkins
presents with Transverberations a breathtaking celebration
of the guitar. As he takes his songs through electrically
charged territories, he deploys an arsenal of sonic tricks
to support his lyrics, ranging from the bucolic and innocent
The Loved Ones or The Creeping Funk to the ironic and
sarcastic The Feminist Agenda or Hollywood Stud and the
obsessive Would You Like Another Drink. At times indulging
in delicacy, hanging acoustic lights in his summer sky
(Out In The Morning Sun, Cuba), at others dropping incendiary
bombs or funking up his enchanting soundscapes (Would
You Like Another Drink?, Raw Custard, Lipstick In Your
Car) Jenkins avoids all the pitfalls of the genre and
continuously captivates the mind by changing direction
in the most insolent fashion, following the same psychedelic
patterns developed by the likes of the Beatles or, later
on, Hendrix, no less. But there is not impertinent pretentious
statement or disrespectful appropriations here. Toby Jenkins
simply enjoys every creative impulse and draws his own
road in the sand.
Transverberations is a truly unique record in today’s
musical landscape, and a truly surprising, if not entirely
unexpected, piece of work. In reflection, the last Fort
Lauderdale album was fuelled by the same anachronic ingenuity,
but, left to his own devices, Toby Jenkins lets his lingering
mind loose and offers one of the most interesting, invigorating
and astonishing records released this year.
5/5 |
