By DJ Monk
Bern-based power trio The Jackets are one of a slew of widely diverse acts who have been placing the land of mountain-shaped chocolate bars and cuckoo clocks very firmly on the rock ‘n’ roll map and establishing this seemingly otherwise quiet little country as a true powerhouse of creativity and talent. In the case of The Jackets, their chosen mien of expression is garage-infused psychedelic fuzz of a kind that is hypnotic and trancelike, but equally energetic and enervating at the same time.
‘Queen Of The Pill’ is their fourth album, and one that sees them having truly moulded their sound into a blend of punk-rock fury and almost ambient translucence, coupled with catchy hooks and even more earworm-inducing choruses, with elements of West Coast psychedelia and even surfari memes thrown in for good measure.
The rhythms are solid and help the songs bounce along with an urgency that leads to involuntary toe-tapping, while the fuzzed out guitar is delivered with a deftness of touch that in places it feels like being brushed with a feather duster rather than being crushed under half a tonne of bottom end – although there is plenty of that as well. All of this is topped off with the entrancing vocals of Jackie Torera (although, apparently, she prefers to be called Jack, to reflect the androgynous nature of her onstage persona), who possesses the sort of fragile ballsiness that inevitably draws comparisons to the likes of Joplin as easily as she will with modern Elin Larsson or Leah Rasmussen.
Yes, ‘Queen Of The Pill’ fits very firmly into the retro bracket which seems to be de rigeur in today’s supposedly modern and progressive music scene, but by looking over its shoulder it also manages to look forward to a suitably bright horizon and presents a sense of optimism which many of The Jackets’ psychedelic-infused counterparts fail to do. An impressive offering and definitely worth more than a cursory listen.
- ‘Queen Of The Pill’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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