Almost just over 10 years since Jack Penate gifted us with the critically acclaimed ‘Everything Is New’ and 12 years since fidgeting debut ‘Matinee’ he returns to the musical fold with ‘After You’. For 10 whole years most Jack Penate fans have waited with baited breath, some noticeably teased when Jack surfaced in the mid 10’s but to no avail disappearing once again into the ether. It’s said that Jack Penate made an album for every year that he was away, and each individual track from the ‘After You’ album is to represent those, apparently he’d lost a whole album to a fire and has matured with a terrible misfortune, grown alone and arrived at this extraordinary third album.
When the news spread that Jack Penate was going to be Annie Mac's hottest record on radio one, social media pretty much imploded on itself, some cryptic instagram story posting followed then when the time came we got ‘Prayer’ a stripped back, raw and heartfelt dive into where Jack Penate had been. ‘Prayer’ takes us all the way back to first album ‘Matinee’ and the simple yet extremely effectively written ‘My Yvonne’ which featured none other than world beating but then relatively unknown Adele. A low sliding guitar backed with a gospel choir isn’t something we’d ever expected but there we were, all waiting for what could follow, some might say praying for this album.
‘After You’ doesn’t rip roar it’s way from the first track, it doesn’t shoot from the paddock as we are lead into ‘Loaded Gun’ for what seems like a nod to everything Jack Penate wishes he was or is to become, the opening line of ‘I want to world to know my name’ links me back to the Mystery Jets album ‘Radlands’ and song ‘Someone Purer’, the twinkling slow jaunt and strum of the acoustic guitar is absolute haunting perfection, a totally refreshing restart. Things now pick up speed with ‘Round and Round’ a three wheeling spinner with an eastern influence, a truly significant addictive beat and the layered vocals we come to expect from Jack Penate, lyrically even three tracks in it is well highlighted that Jack Penate is wearing his heart on his sleeve with ‘After You’ committing clear guileless maturity.
We drop once more into murky depths with ‘Cipralex’ this song peregrinates through a fog that in the modern day a majority of individuals struggle with, this song represents every dark feeling people will feel during a depressed stage, but also it identifies the fake highs of ‘Cipralex’ itself. We could never have expected a man of Jack Penates talent to not struggle with a demon that lingers above. it’s written from the heart and experience, what seems like a continuing reminder that you can hit the bottom, but you can bounce right back up again. While we are in the murky depths, bouncing right back up again seems to be trend and ‘Murder’ becomes just that, once again we throwback to Jack Penate of the past with touches of ‘Every Glance’ which featured on the ‘Everything Is New’ album. There is no doubt that ‘Murder’ is to become the consummate dance floor filler of ‘After You’ it’s a foot tapping, hand clapping total stamping certified banger from top to bottom, yeah.
You really feel while listening to ‘After You’ that you are in it, that you are among all of these feelings and emotions or in some way you can attach yourself to the 10 or so years that Jack Penate has been away, lost to the music industry but living his life. ‘Gemini’ is a melody that had been stuck with Penate for a long while then mastered on an old piano he found in the street, the poem written by his grandfather Mervyn Peake while his uncle recites the words themselves. Everything is once again on the table with ‘Let Me Believe’ as Jack Penate opens the door to his creative psyche, while he takes a figurative shotgun to it and blows it across the ceiling. Emotionally impelled, ‘Let Me Believe’ is Jack Penates swan song to himself, an ode to the journey that bought him and us to this album, another reminder.
Backed by a beat that is prominent from start to finish ‘GMT’ is a hip-hop jazz infused tableau, something that has me wanting to dig out my Mr Hudson & The Library album ‘A Tale Of Two Cities’ and give it another little spin for good measure. It’s got that piano chord progression feeling from Jay Z’s ‘Dead Presidents’ alongside a pure raw vocal, a great track among the 10 but easily lost to some of the more emotionally charged. Effortlessly prominent on ‘After You’ is the ethic that everything has been stripped back to a less is more kind of attitude, lots of Jack Penate doing what he felt was right for him ‘Ancient Skin’ would be another one of those tracks that he was able to take it back to basics, see the absolute bottom of what love was suppose to be lyrically yet here he would be trying to make sense of it all with just words and his feelings. As we move into the end game ‘Swept To The Sky’ was the beginning of the end of ‘After You’ hearing something with a clear reflection hitting that half way mark of the song and it grabs you right in the middle of your body and lifts you, a bit like ‘Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall’ by Coldplay but a lot slower and thought provoking.
What can I tell you about ‘After You’, I can tell you that it is emotionally engaging, thought provoking and at times draining. For the pinnacles we reach within ‘Murder’ and ‘Round And Round’ we also feel the nadir within ‘Loaded Gun’ and ‘Cipralex’. Jack Penate is a man that has spent the last 10 years ageing, maturing, having his heart broken and rebuilding himself from the bottom up and ‘After You’ is the product of that.
(Images courtesy of TomLangfordPhotography)
