Jaguar Love 'Take Me to the Sea'

Posted in Music by thawking on Aug 28, 03:00PM

Jaguar Love
Take Me To The Sea
(Matador Records/Remote Control)

Jaguar Love feature the, um, unique vocal talents of ex-Blood Brothers frontman Johnny Whitney, a man whose voice sounds like an entire classroom of sugar-laden kiddies distilled into one concentrated vocal track of unholy shriekiness. In this band, Whitney’s vocals are set over a backdrop of crunching guitars, marching band drums, a constant stream of keyboard effects, and his own frantic bashing at the piano. It’s very, very much an acquired taste.

The frustrating thing about Whitney, and about this record, is that his eccentricities detract from his strengths. He’s a decent, if over-wrought, lyricist: “Don’t go crazy, my guitar says/As it sits in the corner destroying the universe” is as fine an opening line as anyone’s come up with this year, but for all that you can understand him he might as well be singing in tongues – the fact that his voice is just one element in an overwhelmingly trebly mix doesn’t help.

Vive la difference, and all that, but when Whitney tones down his vocal histrionics, Jaguar Love are a more palatable proposition. It just doesn’t happen often enough. Similarly, there are some interesting musical ideas here, but there are so many sounds into every frenetic track that it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on, and in the end the constant barrage goes from being interesting to wearying and, eventually, downright irritating.

If you’re like me, you may well get a similar feeling from listening to Take Me To The Sea to the one you get from getting stuck at a five-year-old’s birthday party on a hung over Saturday afternoon. It’s all too much. Still, if shouty red cordial music is your bag, then knock yourself out.

Tom Hawking