Jeremiah Freed
Jeremiah Freed
Republic/Universal
Impressive second album from Jeremiah Freed – five kids that are appallingly young, none of whose name is Jeremiah at all, as it goes – that sees them cooking up a stew taking in any classic rock influence imaginable from the last 30 years. And so, what you get is a charming blend from the Big Star school of songwriting, meaning it’s heartbreaking rock struggling to be glorious pop, filtered through the post-grunge energetic approach of Foo Fighters. Which is a brilliant combination of forces, obviously. Plus, they’re not at all afraid of hiding away their more dubious forerunners, and we get “Wait For Me,” which is, in effect, a fantastic, oh-so-obvious Lynyrd Skynyrd riff that takes us into Tom Petty-land and then even further on, into The Posies’ world of sweet and grandiose unabashed pop-with-a-difference. Elsewhere, “Stranded” is a highlight, as is the blatant power-pop of “Again,” and the very charming “How They All Got There.” Surprisingly well rounded, there are some misses and a few lazy solutions here and there – and particularly the latter half of the album suffers from this – but they’re still learning and perfecting their craft. By the next one, they should be absolutely huge.
Jeremiah Freed: http://www.jeremiahfreed.com
