Songoftheday: “Calm Down Dearest” by Jamie T
21 year old Jamie T’s debut, Panic Prevention, was shortlisted for the 2007 Mercury Prize, (of course, he’s already got an NME award). Most importantly, it is another one of My Poproks Top 10 Albums of the Year. The US release came out in September, and has 3 bonus tracks including “Rawhide” featuring Lilly Allen. There’s electronic drums, looped keyboards, acoustic ballads, and a couple of tracks that literally cannot be categorized.
Jamie T’s vocals are like a British train wreck. They are messy & trashy, yet absolutely perfect. “Bar stool banshee/howled out at me/The kings and queens at the clubs evolved from pubs.” He lets his voice crack, he lets himself mess up lyrics, even proclaims after the first track that it’s the “scrappiest” version he’s ever done in his life. Obviously, he cares not. He pulls all of this off and then some. “One man Arctic Monkey” is barely a compliment for Jamie T. Since we’re comparing the two, he blows them out of the water.
Check out the video for the single “Calm Down Dearest”, below.
Posted: December 6th, 2007 under New Music, Songoftheday.
Tags: Jamie T, Panic Prevention