Generally speaking, I’m a person give to speculation. Give me the slightest tidbit of information on someone, someplace, something and I’ll invent some sort of backstory. In the case of Jack’s Johnson, ever since I saw their name on a random Facebook event page, I’ve had it in my head that there must be some sort of gimmick involved. Athens best acoustic cover parody band or some shit. I mean, that name right? What’s up with that name?
I suspect the moniker has quite a bit to do with the name of band mastermind Jack O’Reilly, but, honestly, I don’t want to know. It’s probably better this way. What I do know is that like countless Athens bands, the members met while attending the University of Georgia and have built a musical connection by playing in various projects together. In fact, you may recognize O’Reilly as a member of Athens experimentalists Wieuca, a distinction he shares with guitarist Will Ingram and drummer Robert Smith. Also among the ranks is singer-songwriter Larson Collier (Big Morgan) who, with some added help from O’Reilly and his cohorts, has been creating oddball audio-visual work under the name Blanko.
What these projects and musicians share in common is a penchant towards freewheeling eclecticism and a willingness to pursue all manner of creative ideas. From the serious to the absurd, everything is fair game. Which means that when it comes to Jack’s Johnson, you never know what you’re going to get. Past releases have run the gamut from immersive psychedelia to angular art rock, leaving open that question of how to describe O’Reilly’s approach music. So I decide to ask him.
“My music sounds like if Coldplay wrote anime intros,” O’Reilly responds. “Like if Cats the musical was scored by Death Grips.”
Listening to Jack Johnson’s latest release, a pair of new singles uploaded to Bandcamp in mid July, this answer may seem a little flippant. Neither “Keep Me Young Forever,” with its spiky guitars and mesmerizing grooves, or “Inspiration,” with its caffeinated rhythms, sound anything like what O’Reilly is describing. But neither is this your standard fare indie rock. If I had to pick a touchpoint for these two cuts, it would be Pinback’s skewed, off-kilter compositions, especially in the way O’Reilly and his mates shift so seamlessly between lulling, almost narcotic passages to a full, bubbling sprint.
“A lot of ‘90s lo-fi influence comes through as far as delivery and recording goes, but there are some shinier, more polished aspects as well,” O’Reilly goes on to say, as if to temper his previous statement. And while it’s true that the general vibe of this release could be described as classic college guitar rock, the underlying songwriting is nonetheless fascinating and complex in way that feels fresh. With hopes for a full length to come later this year, Jack’s Johnson remain an exciting enigma, one well worth seeking out and solving.
More Info
Bandcamp: jacksjohnson.bandcamp.com
Instagram: @jacks__johnson