Album review: Jim White - Waffles, Triangles & Jesus
Now, while we would love for the title of this record to be Jim’s three most favourite things in the world, it is more likely to be a holy trinity of bizarre experiences plucked from his life.
For Jim has been around. Bear with us, but he has - among other things - been a singer/songwriter; the star of critically-acclaimed BBC documentary Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus; produced other musicians’ work; been a comedian; a pro surfer; boxer; fashion model; and preacher. While he also tried his hand at many manual jobs before settling on 13 years as a New York cabbie. Honest!
Jim’s life choices are as varied as the alt-country and Americana strands floating throughout the twists and turns of this record.
It’s his sixth full release under his own name, but that’s not including the many collaborations and contributions he has undertaken as a musician, artist and author.
And while it certainly comes across as muddled in places, there is a lot of clever and interesting song writing going on.
Those of a certain age who grew up playing The Sims will enjoy Silver Threads. That instrumental featuring the passive ‘bah bah bah’ vocals while the brass instruments swing in is like something off that all-conquering real life simulation game that exploded in 2000.
He also has a lot of tongue-in-cheek mickey taking going on too. The lament that everybody seems to now be picking up the instrument on Playing Guitars masks a pretty sweet melody below that soothes in its soft approach.
There are those militaristic drums thumping a course through Long Long Day as well. Rather than signal in a feeling of dread and doom they instead provide an uplifting feeling of moving forward to achieve a goal.
But some pieces fall a little short of the mark. There is something overly cartoonish about the whistles and whizzes of Ernest T Bass At Last Finds The Woman Of His Dreams. While the dreary Far Beyond The Spoken World is another skippable track.
But when this weird and wonderful mind does land a hit, Jim White is strangely good at hooking you in to listen.
Rating: 6/10
Jim White will be bringing his wild world to Birmingham’s Actress & Bishop on Thursday.
