All it took was a night out with Sheila and Stella all those years ago to get hype into overdrive for one Jamie T. 2007’s Panic Prevention did indeed prove to be one of the surprise highlights of the later half of the 2000s, but perhaps the calls of being a new Billy Bragg and a new resident poet laureate of the U.K. weighed too greatly on him. Its follow-up, Kings and Queens, sank like the Sticks and Stones he sang of in its lead single, and a lengthy absence followed.
He returns at a time where we’ve moved onto the next new Billy Bragg (hi, King Krule!); his name relegated to the ‘whatever happened to?’ pile. That’s not to say that Jamie T’s return is for nothing – at the very least, Carry On the Grudge is better than its predecessor. There’s some top-notch singles in there, including the bouncy Zombie and the quietly-reserved Don’t You Find. There are moments, however, that feel as though T has lost the spark that made him such an intriguing prospect to begin with. It’s a very different London from 2007, and rather than properly adapt he’s found himself neither here nor there.
BY DAVID JAMES YOUNG
Best Track: Zombie
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: BILLY BRAGG, KING KRULE, THE KOOKS
In A Word: Indifferent
