Tuesday 13 December 2011

Jamie N Commons - The Preacher



On December 5th the BBC announced the nominees for the BBC Sound of 2012, with the final shortlisted five being announced in early January.  The Gizzle will be reviewing each of the fifteen longlisted nominees leading up to the final announcement.

A husky, growling voice.  A repeated acoustic guitar figure.  Religiously tinged lyrics of a man "with one hand on the trigger and one hand on the cross / Jesus and his family are the two things he’s lost". 

With such an American country/blues style, it's hard to believe that Jamie N Commons is just 22 and actually hails from Bristol.  He sings with a roaring maturity far beyond his years and sounds deeply authentic.  The Preacher is the lead track from his debut EP 'The Baron' (pictured).  It begins with a quiet intensity before the music gradually swells into a cacophony of screaming guitars and thrashing drums.  It's the sort of music to accompany long, lonely winter nights in the depths of a snow covered, twilit wasteland deep in the midst of America - a feeling that the video represents successfully.

A raw talent in the most literal sense.

4/5

Listen: The debut EP 'The Baron' is out now, with a debut coming in 2012.

Watch: Commons will be touring the UK in early 2012.