Lost and now Found, Jamie T's back with a new album

Following the creation of a 2012 Facebook group entitled, 'Where is Jamie T?' The new godfather of hiatuses, South-West Londoner Jamie Treays is back with a brand, spankin' new album, 'Carry on the Grudge'.

His 2-litre bottle of Strongbow and a house party style of rap is long gone, and replaced with a mature boyish swagger. The first track on the album, Limits Lie, is much cleaner, smoother instrumentally than his earlier stuff, and an emotionally raw way to kick off the album.

In his time off, Jamie T's, clearly had to a lot of time to experiment, one of his key influences being 80's music, and Peter, a moody track definitely has that kinda vibe to it.

His come-back single Don't you Find, is a sombre, bassy affair, and a love song! You can just see this in a tent at a music festival - the album's had some criticism for having a different style to stuff Jamie's put out before, but I mean he's 28 now, probably has a mortgage and his music shows he's grown up a bit.

Carry on the Grudge is a bit The Clash, a bit Kid British. None more so than Zombie, probably the most lyrically poignant track, "I'm a sad sad post teen, caught up in the love machine, no dream, come clean, walking like a zombie." A lethal hook, that's pretty darn catchy. He's not totally ditched his boyish raps, but ironically, the song's about not knowing what to do now his teenage bravado is behind him, adjusting to adult life.

Love is only a heartbeat away, another stand out track from the album, warm bath and kettle chips listening as I'd like to describe it. Very charming, with a folky kind of guitar riff. A song you'd almost expect to find on an Ed Sheeran album.

Jamie recently performed Zombie, and Rabbit Hole on Later with Jools Holland. Rabbit Hole being the weaker of the 2 performances, with Jamie looking like he'd just necked a few pints, but nonetheless it is a great track and one you can really dance to.

Admittedly, his first album, Panic Prevention, was probably his best work, but continuing with that teenage-style now just wouldn't be organic. What I particularly like about Carry on the Grudge is that it's a bit darker, showing the guy's had some personal demons to overcome, and they've been a key influence on his sound.

The 1975 know where The City is

Having been a band for 10 years, something lead-singer Matt Healy rarely fails to mention in a show, two dates (with this being the last of those) at the spectacular Alexandra Palace in north-London were something of closure for the alternative group, The 1975, for now.

To perform at such a unique venue with it's grand exterior, and festival-like foyer, you've not only got to have a great back-catalogue of tracks, something The 1975 have in abundance despite only having released one album. But you've got to have a certain artistic style, that can create an atmosphere to fill the large floor-space It's the bands pulsating live set that does that, and does it well.

Set against their Chanel inspired white, portait backdrop (below), the Manchester originators step out with percussion-fuelled single The City, befitting, to a venue, with views right across the capital. The band then intertwine this household-known track, into Milk, a lesser-known song, about cocaine, that has an anthemic feel to it, with it's almost EDM like chorus.

The audience is on average teenagers, naturally with a lot of younger, female fans, but a sizeable hardcore of mid-to-late 20's males. After a bit of chatter with the crowd, from Healy in his distinct, slowed, yet artistic way of talking, the band then go into M.O.N.E.Y, and So Far (It's Alright), it was at this point, you begin to feel Healy's vocals have improved immensely. This could only lead me to believe he's ditched the chain-smoking, but enough about that, this isn't a tabloid newspaper. 

Matty then introduces their, "newest member of the band", a saxophonist, who provides soulful accompianient for She Way Out and Talk. After an instrumental interlude, by way of An Ecounter, the band deliver songs of more recent acclaim, the very catchy, Radio 1 friendly, Heart Out, as well as Settle Down and Pressure.

It is clear to anyone whose not already witnessed a broad array of The 1975's music prior to the gig, what a wide range of styles and influences the band incorporate in to their sound. Reflecting on this, I recall an interview, with Matty, where he explains this is why they opted to release numerous EP's before their debut-album, because it is such an audacious body of work.

Slower tracks, such as Me, and the beautiful fallingforyou (yes, all one word!) Then give a more serene feel to the concert. Songs that were no doubt suited to the grand, spacious arena at 'Ally Pally'. You, one of my personal favourites, A classic, despite not including it in their album, it is inconspicuous, with many deeper messages, thought-provoking stuff and to me exactly what the music industry needed, and why The 1975 have been welcomed with such open arms.

After another interlude, by way of HNSCC, something you feel is very authentic, and real. Giving you a moment to breathe, and absorb the moment, the band then move in to Menswear. An extremely, powerful track which really stood out as a highlight for me. Esepcially because they played the whole moody intro, lasting of about 2 minutes, before the poignant vocals, something they hadn't done in previous shows.

As some sort of monster-encore, The 1975 had left all their most commercial songs to the end. Testament to how far they've come as a band, having kept their crowd well and truly captivated for well over an hour to do that.

The relentlessly catchy Girls, no doubt got the younger-fans going, which was then followed by the more subdued Robbers, a song that I will confess took a while to grow on me. But it does infuriate me when people describe them as pop, yes their popular, and have a number of memorable melodies, and catchy riffs. But that's down to them as a band honing their craft for so long, and creating an utterly avant-garde sound. Listen to me get defensive, eh!

Ending the night, with Chocolate, and then the absolutely electric Sex, where all of a sudden there'd been a lot more space created to dance, which was handy, and their template rectangles turning red. The band waved farewell to the UK for now. Retreating to create something new, for us hopefully to get excited about.

When that does happen, I urge you to make every effort to go see this band live.