Jet Black

Album review

Reg Vermue's 2009 offering is a quirky, ramshackle blend of fey, soulful vocals and mid-fi indie rock with some alternative electronic beats thrown in for good measure. It's a hit-or-miss affair as Vermue filters influences like glam rock, the blues, blue-eyed soul, and 1990s-style alternative disco à la the Pet Shop Boys. Vermue has an unconventional gruff yet high voice, and the album ebbs and flows based on how well that voice fits the particular genre he's surfing at the moment. Opening track "Coastline" is the definite standout and actually sets the bar too high for the remaining songs. The song's distorted, bright guitars and off-kilter tempo sit nicely with the Marc Bolan-style vocal phrasing Vermue employs. Collaborator Elizabeth Powell from Land of Talk co-wrote the song and her voice is nearly as prominent as Vermue's, making for a nice counterpoint. Vermue isn't as successful on his own, though, and even when the Organ's Katie Sketch joins him on the brittle, somewhat folksy "Rewind," which strives for Antony and the Johnsons territory, Vermue's seemingly limited range keeps things from taking off. Elsewhere, there are some obvious nods to Roxy Music ("How We Exit"), an indie approximation of Gorillaz ("Falling Back"), and plenty of plink-plonk kitchen sink sound effects and one-man band-sounding instrumentation to keep the mood light. The slow-burning "Oh My God," Jet Black's other standout, has a more ambient feel with Vermue's soulful croon fitting perfectly over gurgling bass and assorted electronic patter. Jet Black is held back primarily by its mid-fi production, but also by its somewhat pedestrian sense of melody and an overall lack of hooks. Too many of the songs settle into lackluster grooves, and pairing those grooves with Vermue's style-over-substance vocal affectations makes the album less than memorable.

© Tim DiGravina /TiVo