ROLLING STONE author Birgit Fuß wrote the review of Jake Bugg’s debut record. Their verdict at the time: An 18-year-old Brit is the hope of the year – with wonderful songs between folk and pop.
Finally of age! Normally that’s enough to make you feel like the greatest, at least for a short time, but 18-year-old Jake Bugg has just a few more reasons. Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn are enthusiastic about him, as are Jools Holland and Ian Brown. His debut (which doesn’t appear here until January 25th) immediately shot to number one in Great Britain. An amazing start to a career for a youngster from Nottingham. On the cover of his album he looks like he can’t believe it himself. The critical view – it also pervades his music, which constantly fluctuates between desperation and courage, standstill and departure. The opening song features an ambulance and angels, the piece is called “Lightning Bolt” – and you feel a bit overwhelmed by these 14 songs.
If Bugg already has songs like that ready now, out of his little shell, what will he be able to tell us when he’s really grown up and has seen the world? However, one shouldn’t underestimate the contribution of Iain Archer, who co-wrote the best pieces here: The Northern Irishman (Snow Patrol, Tired Pony) already has an Ivor Novello songwriting award at home. But be that as it may – it is also an art to choose the right colleagues.
Small stories about the horror of everyday life
“I drink to remember/ I smoke to forget/ Some things to be proud of/ Some stuff to regret” – this is how Bugg laconically describes a broken family in “Two Fingers” that could be found not only in his hometown of Clifton, but anywhere . A classic scenario that Bugg sings about with such empathy, as if he were the first person to have ever experienced something like it. The fuck-off gesture is aimed at the past, because the protagonist has long since said goodbye to his narrow circumstances: “I got out, I got out, out alive, and I’m here to stay!” No doubt about it.
The pill swallower claims in “Seen It All” that nothing can shock him anymore, then a guy gets stabbed, just like that. The story ends with the words “I’ve seen the light/ But not the kind I would’ve liked”, Bugg sings them very tenderly – and it is precisely this discrepancy, the wonderful contradictions that make the appeal here. The little stories about the horror of everyday life could also have come from the young Paul Weller, but on “Down In The Tube Station At Midnight” the violence could be heard at all times, the underlying danger. With Bugg it creeps in very quietly, between voluptuous melodies and gentle words.
Of course, not all of the verses are original, but there is nothing artificial about the way he sings about “long hard drives” and “less traveled roads”. Sometimes he’s perhaps a little too much like Dylan (“Trouble Town”), although he’s more touching as Gene Pitney or Donovan. But he usually maintains a balance between traditional folk and impetuous guitar pop, and he always finds his way back to his own voice in good time. Jake Bugg will give us a lot of fun.
This text comes from the ROLLING STONE archives and originally appeared in the January 2013 issue.