It’s hard to ignore how much the ultra-British lilt in Jack
Peñate’s vocal delivery recalls Robert Smith. He has that same
taffy-mouthed roundness to his vowels, and title track “Everything Is
New” features bass-heavy verses with bedroom vocals that could have
come right off the Cure’s seminal 1986 compilation album, Standing
on a Beach.
Which, I suppose, is to say that everything actually isn’t new on Peñate’s sophomore effort. The sound here is very similar
to that of mid-to-late-1980s post-new-wave alt-pop bands like the Cure,
Echo and the Bunnymen, and XTC. “So Near,” “Give Yourself Away” and “Be
the One” (which fuses in a neo-soul horn section and backing vocals)
are the brightest examples on the album, and are worth the purchase
price alone.
Perhaps the title is intended more to reflect the reinvention of his
own sound, as Everything Is New is really different from his
much-cheesier first album, Matinee, which at times bordered on
Dave Matthews Band territory.
Thank god he’s gone a different direction here, because the results
are wonderful: The tinny bass grooves and snappy drums give the record
a solid bottom throughout, from “Let’s All Die” to the world-beat
percussion on the anthemic “Tonight’s Today.”
On “Body Down,” the album’s closer, Peñate sings, “He’s gonna
take you in the end / So you might as well become his friend.” That’s a
fitting sentiment with which to address his audience. By this album’s
end, you’re bound to be won over.
This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2009.