When I first heard Homeless J’s debut album,
“Three Seconds to Gaze,” I had a love/hate
relationship with it. While I liked the idea of the
band’s unique mashup of seventies hard rock,
eighties pop, and nineties modern rock it just never
seemed to click for me. The band’s followup,
“The Squeeze,” however is another story
altogether. Everything that almost worked on “3
Seconds to Gaze” soars here.
The EP opens with an uneccesary intro that annoys
me no more or less than any intro does, thankfully
it is short and breaks into the “Achtung Baby”
era influenced “Give Me What I Want” and
“Flipside.” These songs, and to a lesser
degree the ones that follow, is a milemarker for musical
dynamics. “(In the Time of the) Butterflies”
hits on more of the Led Zeppelin influence that heavily
soaked their debut. The vocals even get a little Jello
Biafra on you for a second here and second there.
The more straightforward “Million Miles”
is another highlight among highlights and a sure fire
radio hit if there has ever been one.
I really am floored by the band’s work on this
EP. This is truly intelligent and meaningful songwriting.
Despite the fact that the band wears their influences
on their sleeve, they manage to create something new
from it…and it’s brilliant. All fans of
meaningful music should seek out this EP. Bands that
sell a lot more records than Homeless J should stand
up and take notice of what this band is doing as well.
The bar has been significantly raised.
Key Tracks: All of them. There’s not a stinker
in the bunch.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher |
