JACK FRANCIS – Self titled album by Good Deeds Music
The self titled album from Jack Francis was released in early February, his debut in fact. We can broadly describe this sound as Americana with various other touches, with some Folk influences on display at times too.
Jack is from the Southampton area but has Irish roots, which for me, also come out at times. That gritty but smooth voice for starters but the whole overall sound, which definitely gathers all kinds of soulful touches and pours them into this huge melting pot. A sonic fondue perhaps! It appears that he has done his time on the local circuit but has also spread his wings to experience places such as New York. It was while he was in the Big Apple, that his spark for making music came to the fore and set him on this path.
So let me take you through a few of the songs to hopefully give you a flavour of what to expect. Hopefully you will then want to go and get the whole thing!
The album has nine tracks in total, maybe I would have liked to have another one or three added but plenty to enjoy here either way. Opener, ‘A Little Love’, starts quietly with voice and acoustic guitar but soft drums soon introduce themselves. Jack’s vocals on this are lovely, as mentioned before, smooth but gritty, if that makes sense. I have always been a bit useless at offering comparisons to other artists, so you will just have to listen for yourself to see what I mean! The subtle use of a horn section adds to the Soulful flavour of this one, something which returns at various points along the way.
‘Silver Lining’ was the first track I was given to listen to, its move the pace up a couple of notches from the first song, something you can tap toes and fingers to. Splashes of humour seem to be injected into the lyrics and a chorus that you will be able to sing along to easily – “It’s hard for me to see the silver lining”. Maybe an ever so slight Country touch here?
Next up, ‘Holiday’ brings things right back down, a lazy [ in a good way! ] tempo to this one. A little piano tinkling pops in along the way on this one. But again, the voice of Jack is very prominent, the arrangement gives it space to shine.
Then we have ‘Wild Eyes’, a nice bass line helps to bring this one in before the whole song lifts right up. I am also not great at interpreting lyrics but this does seem to be basically a love song to me. I hope that is right. More horns are added and its one of the main highlights for me.
Just to give you a couple more tracks -‘Helena’ is a superb tune. Nice and up tempo, it bounces along very positively, although lyrically, it’s not that positive at all! Jack doesn’t sound too happy with Helena! Another earworm chorus too. Thinking about it, I would say this is my favourite choice of the nine. Then we have the lovely, lilting, fiddle driven ‘To Mean As Much As You’. Gorgeous! Next up, we get some marvellous Hammond pushing ‘The Wheel’ onwards [ this is not the theme tune for the Michael McIntyre TV show! ]. Jack’s voice is possibly at its most soaring and soulful on this one. A string section than adds to the mix, fantastic arrangements here.
Jack Francis – The Wheel – Live At Grand Chapel Studios
The album closes with the almost cheeky sounding ‘Cold Hearted Little Man’, not a millions miles away from a soft Ska beat tempo. With some more Hammond and a touch of some fuzzy guitar. Great way to end the album.
This collection is one that will justify repeat listening for sure. I also had hints of Ryan Adams and Ray LaMontagne too, so if those artists are in your collection, I would definitely urge you to follow the links, take a listen and then hopefully, make a purchase. I would have liked that extra track to nudge the score up but that is splitting hairs.
RATING: 8/10
