As massive Belle and Sebastian fans (no surprises there), FFS were pretty keen to hear this album from their adorable guitarist Stevie Jackson. He is adorable in a sort of scatty-uncle-who-tells-the-best-stories-in-awkward-family-situations kind of way, and the inoffensive charm in his lyrics and tunes shines through in every track on ‘(I Can’t Get No) Stevie Jackson’. Even the title’s pretty cute.
We don’t want to go on about B&S but there are plenty of undeniable similarities, though if anyone can get away with that, Stevie can. ‘Bird’s Eye View’ has more than a whiff of ‘Read the Blessed Pages’ about it, which is a bit of a shame as it’s far from our favourite. Recorders are still too twee even for indie pop.
It’s not all familiar territory though. ‘Press Send’, about the trials of getting your feelings heard via email, has quite a childish set of lyrics, but a fun, danceable melody that makes it one of the more memorable inclusions. We’re pretty sure none of these songs could be considered cool, either, apart from maybe in a novelty sense; ‘Just, Just So To the Point It’s Scary’ could be shoved right into an episode of Flight of the Conchords and not even Jermaine would notice.
But we never listened to music to seem cool, and we’ll be listening to Stevie Jackson’s stuff plenty more. It may not carry a whole load of emotional wisdom, but a lot of it carries a cracking tune. And ‘Kurosawa’ tells us that ‘With your pigeon by your side you’re not alone’, which could be considered wisdom, if you think outside the box a little.