Sick Sad World - Fear and Lies

Seattle isn't really known for guitar pop, but it should be.  The Emerald City has a wealth of indie bands covering a wide range of styles.  Favorites we've covered in the past couple of years include Zebra Hunt, La Luz, Posse, Dude York, Seapony, Unlikely Friends, and Tangerine.  Now we are adding young Jake Jones, who records as Sick Sad World, to the list.  Jake has assembled 11 of his songs on Fear and Lies, and we think it is a stunning debut.  Full of hooks and riffs, he spreads his songcraft over crunchy power pop, smeared '60s jams (for example, "Orange Lazarus" and "Being Weird") and raucous slacker pop with a few touches of swaggering glam.

This isn't the skatboarding Jones' first rodeo, as he is a vet of harder edged bands, but to our knowledge this is his first pop project.  His mastery of the vocabulary is obvious, but what makes it really special is his ability to put his own spin on guitar pop.  The result is songs with personality and an accessibility the inspires me to sing along (I apologize in advance to those within earshot).  Without being the least bit saccharine, they are sunny tunes that remind me of how happy I am that summer is here.  So I'll leave you to to sample the goods.  It is beer-thirty and I'm going down to the car, opening the sun roof and putting on Fear and Lies very loud.









Fear and Lies is out now via Seattle's Help Yourself Records.  Source the digital at the Bandcamp link or get the vinyl with a digital download at the next link down.  The record was recorded at Olympia's Dub Narcotic Studio with Jake playing all of the instruments.

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Bandcamp
link for vinyl
Help Yourself Records