The Jettes – Jette Stream EP

The Jettes quite simply rock like a mutha, their debut EP Jette Stream is like squeezing an explosion of rocking noise, smothered in a sweet coat of lyrical loveliness, into a confined space with no doors or windows. I keep getting images of the band battle sequence from Scott Pilgrim vs the World running through my head. Though there’s noise a plenty here it in no way detracts from the strong song writing ability on show. It’s hard to pinpoint one influence, just a collection of influences from any decade from the 70’s on. For me personally I hear everything from The Saints to Mary Chain and The Kills to Mud Honey.

First track up is ‘Silver Knife’ with crunching guitars and wild harmonic ringing notes and driving bass, when that sweet vocal kick in ‘Take my heart, take my light…’ over that pounding beat it really grabs you in an instant, oddly whilst I’m listening to this the vocal for this song really put me in mind of Echobelly lead singer Sonya Madan. ‘Girl of my Dead Friend’ starts off like some heavy grungy noise laden Mary Chain number replete with a vocal harmony buried in amongst the noise and hand clap bouncing chorus, the bass guitar really crunches beautifully on this track and builds to final crescendo. Following on is my favourite track of all ‘The Dying Cowboy’ which spins the plaintive tale of a cowboy dressed in white, layered with haunting backing vocals and shimmering tremolo guitars, as the title would suggest this sounds like a rocking soundtrack to an awesome Spaghetti Western. The final track is ‘Take it out on me’ which kicks of with a fast pumping bass line and again highlights the cool way the harmonies between Sarah and Rich work to great effect, this track for me takes me back to my early years listening to scuzzy Punk and New Wave… wow what a great EP, I know it must be good because I had to put it straight back on again, and then again and… well you get the idea. Check out The Jettes, you won’t be disappointed.