A super-duo made up of Kings Of Leon’s Jared Followill and Mona’s Nick Brown, Smoke & Jackal’s first recorded output is surprisingly restrained. While some of Jared’s basslines could have come from the last couple of KOL albums and Nick’s raspy vocal is instantly recognisable, this debut six-track EP is less than the sum of its parts.
‘No Tell’ is a false prophet. Its southern boogie is pretty much what you’d expect a KOL/Mona collaboration to sound like: pulsing bass and fuzzy washes of guitar, with a beat that defies you to resist tapping your toe, and a chorus that will have legions of Kings fans swaying in appreciation.
‘Fall Around’ is driven by a bass riff so trippily all-pervasive, it veers very close to dub territory, while the drums never get out of second gear and the vocals are buried way too deep in the mix. ‘Ok Ok’ is, as its title suggests, so-so: three minutes of shiny rock that suggests that it’s going to build into something, but ends up merely repeating itself. ‘Roadside’ has more dub bass, this time married to a syncopated breakbeat and falsetto vocal, which sounds like it’s trying for Achtung Baby-era U2 but falls short. The staccato guitar attack of ‘You’re Lost’ is better, and at least has a chorus worthy of the name.
While there are undoubtedly some decent ideas whirling around here, to these ears EP No. 1 sounds like a half-imagined sketch rather than a finished product.