Jacko Hooper – ‘Why I’m Here At All’
One of the best submissions we’ve had to Tracks Of The Week thus far. Jacko Hooper’s distinctly personable voice initially comes across geeky but endearing, sort of like the unmistakable vocals of Alt-J’s Joe Newman, or Tom Odell for that matter. With a soft-core, lo-fi acoustic backing and a subtlety fuzzy drum kick, the track’s opening paints a warming picture that fills the head with recollections of a explorative, long-lost summer; the prominent metallic sound of changing chords adding a degree of verisimilitude to the track.
The introduction of the backing vocals – sung in unison with Hooper – elevates the track to something that is genuinely quite beautiful and the melodic harmony very much acts as a marker to look forward to. With each new verse comes a growing influence in drums, with fast brush rolls and the odd snare blast building the tune up to a glorious clearing, audibly describing the feeling of walking out into a sunshine-filled glade. In this sense, the track is refreshing and capable of both throwing the listener into a subdued sadness or a luminesce optimism.
There are few lyrics in ‘Why I’m Here At All”, but importantly just the right amount for Hooper to set the all-too familiar theme of existentialism, “Lately, I’ve been wondering why I’m here at all”, and touch on the concept of time coming too fast: “I’m running out now, what thought comes first?” Yet, the disparaging meaning behind such lines are juxtaposed by the deceptively sweet tone of the track and in the music, which Hooper leaves to do all the talking.
BackHome – ‘Visita‘
This single from the South American outfit undoubtedly pays tribute to the glory days of skate and punk rock championed by the likes of Sum 41 and Blink 182. The bright, quick-fire guitar riffs and explosive drums, that are mixed together very impressively I might add, provide a pleasing foundation for a track fit for old-skool Kerrang’s top 100 charts, ensuring ‘Visita’ would not be out of place amongst music videos for ‘Fat Lip’ and ‘In Too Deep’ that were watched every Saturday morning before going to a friend’s house.
‘Visitia’ is extremely and probably unintentionally nostalgic in that sense. The slower break for the second verse and middle eighth in which the electric guitar rails off a repeated high-octane, bubbling riff ensures that BackHome keep in line with the unshakable formula that fostered a generation of late 90s kids. The song being entirely in Spanish, then, flips the whole thing on it’s head, and adds a very exotic feel to American skatepark rock that only felt as though it could be mastered by those with spikey, blonde-tinted hair.
The vocals unfortunately sound a little flat, but that’s only due to the immensity of the band’s established sound. The more confidence and cockiness the better for this one; the frontman for a band of this genre should sound as though he’s about to jump in the mosh pit himself. On this occasion, the vocals seem a little too bright and cheerful. Though, it definitely doesn’t take away from the track’s overal feel and perhaps impresses in replacing necessary punky vocals with a Spanish twist that only adds something different to a well-saturated, albeit dated, genre.