If choice is the enemy of simplicity, then modern life is a minefield of potential crises. Like navigating your way through the seemingly infinite selection of bland cheeses in an American supermarket, the contemporary capitalist world is beset by a proliferation of apparent choice that is both confusing, and – notwithstanding the protestations of Chicago School economists – frequently unsatisfying.
Maybe it’s this socio-economic drama that underpins Jack Carty’s collaboration with producer Casual Psychotic. The opening track, What Does Your Heart Say?, imbues the equation with a measure of soulful tranquillity; that is, until the music fades out, and only vacant aural space remains. Is the dub-happy-cum-’70s-soul-rock Strung Along a metaphor for our tethering to an economic discourse few of us genuinely understand, let alone have subscribed to – or is it simply that age-old romantic scenario that science can never truly explain?
Tunnel Vision seems to escape into more accommodating pastures, a thin mist of country-tinged reflection as the narrator tries to find a way out of a maze of cognitive confusion. Wherever It Is is nothing less than a foot-tapping ’70s Californian rock track, stripped of the coke-induced indulgence and egotistical obsession, and spliced with some folk sensibility for good measure. Intermission is what it suggests, a brief interlude as the mind wrestles with the pitfalls of psychological introspective, interposed with some cheap and cheerful academic psychoanalytical commentary.
Finally, there’s Reasons To Be Afraid, and we’re back on the edge of a dystopian world where things could be good, or not, depending on the way you move. But when the Paul Simon-meets-Evan Dando acoustic guitar kicks in, everything’s okay, even if you’re not sure how long the moment will last. Modern life can be a fucker to deal with, but Jack Carty’s given us enough to protect us against the most psychotic of thoughts.
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: What Does Your Heart Say?
If You Like This, You’ll Like: Some respite from the perils of modern life.
In A Word: Reasuring
