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June 25, 2004
"JJ72" by JJ72
Your mom always told you not to judge a book by its cover and the same is true of an album. If you judge JJ72's debut album by its cover, you would think the band was boring, drab and dull. Thankfully, this Irish band is none of the above.
Despite the lack of creativity in the album's design, the music of JJ72 is anything but uncreative. Sure the male lead singer may sound like a woman but that doesn't mean that this three piece Dublin based band doesn't rock.
The hardest thing to describe about JJ72 is the voice of its lead singer Mark Greaney. Greaney's voice is higher than the common male's but not in an annoying boy band way. He manages to display incredible range across the span of the album, yet never comes across as whining. Think of Wheatus's "Teenage Dirtbag" but with less annoying vocals and you have a good description of JJ72's sound.
Layers of clean, barely distorted guitars are the foundation of the majority of the tracks from the album, as evident in the lead-off track "October Swimmer." But by integrating stringed instruments with the bass-guitar-drums formula, JJ72 have succeeded in creating a fresh sound.
The third track on the album, "Oxygen," is the song which gave JJ72 its break and for good reason. The song builds and soars above the others on the album before it comes back down with a gentle swell of stringed instruments. It is easy to see why major labels were pounding on the band's door after hearing this song.
"Willow" is a wistful love song with clean acoustic guitars and more strings in the background. Greaney shows his diverse vocal talents on this track. In the span of three minutes his voice rises and dives, making this song another highlight of the album.
On "Broken Down" Greaney's voice is accompanied by the wailing of a single guitar in the background. The song is poignant and heartfelt even if the lyrics are difficult to decipher, and it sounds as if Greaney's voice is about to break at several points throughout the song.
The lyrics of the self-titled album are metaphorical almost to the point that they are incomprehensible in some places, making this a difficult album to sing along to. But although it is nearly impossible to understand what Greaney means in each line of the songs, they all still have their own distinct vibe.
"Improv" is a good example. "Clown stumbling through patches of flowered mortality," sings Greaney in a scratching voice. Incomprehensible lyrics such as these are scattered throughout the album, but choruses often make more sense. The meaning behind "Improv" becomes clear in the chorus when Greaney painfully
sings, "I know I am failing."
Calling JJ72 the next U2 is a big stretch but the band was certainly worthy of the "Best New Band" award which was bestowed upon them at last year's Irish Music Awards.
Posted on June 25, 2004 at 1:13 AM