There’s nothing wrong with being a WGWAG – or “white guy with acoustic guitar,” for those of you playing at home. It may be a cliché-ridden path, but it can be avoided if you play your cards right. Alas, it’s here where Jack Carty, a long-serving WGWAG from Brisbane via Melbourne via Sydney via Bellingen, has had to fold.
Esk, his third studio album, is one heavy with songs (14, in fact, spread over nearly an hour), but decidedly light on personality and introspection. Carty begs, borrows and steals from everyone from Nick Drake to Josh Pyke and back again, but even their influence can’t add flourishes of colour to what is a decidedly grey affair. There is no lack of talent on Carty’s behalf, who possesses a very capable baritone and can pluck his strings with the best of them. On Esk, however, it’s all too easy for the songs to get lost in the background.
There’s a myriad of reasons that make Esk a disappointing listen, but perhaps the most prominent of them all is the fact that Carty himself is capable of so much more. Great things will come to this man, but it sadly will not be found here.
BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG
Best Track: Honey, Do You Know The Way Back Home
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Nick Drake, Bright Eyes, Ryan Adams
In A Word: Lacklustre
