Jay Flash – Know, Alone (Independent)
Know Alone is this artist’s third album. It comes with rather odd liner notes, about turmoil in an unstated country, governed by successive despots (that narrows it down not at all, then). There is also reference to the need to raise awareness for human rights. So, Jay appears to be girding his loins for an approaching battle, and his rather solemn approach to the music bears this out. Know, Alone wont be flying off to sunny climes anytime soon, but the gravitas of the work here does get your attention, and the songs do not loosen their grip easily, grasping you tightly, pulling you in, with their semantics and original flair. His vocals run the whole gamut of emotions, from sheer joy to unbridled anger.

Besides his own multi-instrumental approach, quite a few friends help him out, and he owes a debt to them all for helping to make these songs work so well. His leaning towards the classic singer-songwriters is pretty obvious (we are talking Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake here), but he has an experimental approach outside of the more normal indie-folk genre that makes the work his own.

So, to sum up: a bard from Wisconsin, with that difficult third album, taking on his own and world problems, but done with charm and sincerity. These two facts make it a pleasure rather than something to endure. Nice one, Jay.
www.myspace.com/jayflasch

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