For those who love their garage rock steeped in blue-eyed soul and swathed in macho swagger, there is plenty to admire in the debut disc by The Jackson Analogue. The quintet hails from the Isle of Wight, and it's clear from the opening guitar bursts on "Day Is Done" that these guys have very much internalized a generation's worth of classic rock records. The faint echoes of vintage rockers like the Yardbirds, the Small Faces, and the Doors can all be heard swirling about the mix of heavy drums, reverb-drenched guitars, and raw, ragged vocals. Happily, And Then, Nothing manages to avoid being a retro-sounding knock-off, even if the influences are fairly naked for all to see. "Janis," a fine example of their approach, is a fast-paced, bass-driven rocker, with a rhythmic hat-tip to McCartney's "Band On The Run," and a nice harmonic break in which the band members sing "You're beautiful" repeatedly (perhaps to off-set the fact that the song's object of desire is repeatedly told she's "…living like a whore"). "All Alone" is another stomping rocker that features a jagged rhythm, a discordant melody, with guitar bursts playing off of helter-skelter flourishes of the Hammond organ, and a driving lead guitar line that leads into a somewhat lackluster chorus; the song is saved by the moody bass line, though. And proving that they have a softer side, the Jackson Analogue offers up songs like "Concrete Hands" and "Disco," both given a delicate acoustic touch. "Hands" is a particularly effective track, starting as a light melodic exercise before developing into a nice balladic gallop, as James Homes does his best Pete Yorn impression. The penultimate track on the disc, "West of Here," sounds like a guitar-soaked version of the Doors, complete with Jim Morrison-like howls, dramatic stops and starts, and several changes in tempo. One of the few criticisms of the album is that, while the production is appropriately sparse and clean, and the songs all pay homage to the band's roots, the energy of the performances tends to outstrip the material itself. It's almost through sheer force of musical charisma that the Jackson Analogue makes an occasionally thin song work, and it would be nice to see material that had a few more surprises, or felt more fleshed out, to match the quality of the players' chops and enthusiasm.
--Neal Alpert
