Jack Penate returns with a solid, consistent and enjoyable second album after becoming a bit of a whipping boy for the reviewers the last time round. You see, he’d become a scapegoat for the half-arsed English indie tweeness and fake-cockernee urchin behaviour that typified 2006/2007’s crop of trendy goons (and deservedly so, to be honest). So it’s strange to see him return with something quite good. On ‘Everything Is New’ he’s jettisoned the jangly indie/conversational, Housemartins-lite (and they were light enough already), sprach-gesang/wide-boy template entirely, in favour of a likeable pop record filled with Afro-beats, ‘80s soul melodies, and Everything But The Girl-style trance arrangements.
And it works. All the joyous beats, brass sections, swishy synths, pulsing organs, steel drums, shiny Telecaster tones, occasional fuzz guitar breaks and, most distinctively, a whole choir full of harmony vocals, create an oddly shiny counterpoint to Penate’s anguished, Robert Smith-like singing. In fact, the emotional dissonance is great. Pop music can often be a good place to deal with the big issues and indeed, on ‘Let’s All Die’, Jack deals with one of the biggest when he sadly croons: “Out of the womb and into the tomb” as a joyful chorus of voices respond: “Let’s all die”. And the end result is defiant and life-affirming rather than morbid and navel gazing. So I can now imagine Jack Penate leading us in a conga-line Danse Macabre style to the edge of the graveyard. Everything is indeed new.

Key Track: ‘Let’s All Die’