Album Review: Jack Garratt - Phase

Shortly after the release of debut album Phase, 24-year-old Jack Garratt’s Dublin show is moved from the Academy to the bigger capacity Olympia.

It’s a sure sign that the Buckinghamshire native is doing something right. Having nabbed this year’s BBC Sound Of... award, the multi-instrumentalist has made his way onto lots of ‘ones to watch’ lists – and rightly so. Phase is an incredibly catchy collection, poppy at heart but with ever-so-tasty dubstep and electro undertones. There are lots of comparisons being bandied about to the Father of Glitch himself, James Blake, and Garratt naming the album’s first number ‘Coalesce (Synesthesia Pt II)’ isn’t doing much to quell that particular train of thought! Yet the tracks on here are more accessible than Blake’s gorgeous debut – not a bad thing in this reporter’s book, though others have branded him bland for going as mainstream as he has.

I say: put your genre snobbery aside and you’ll find a slickly-produced suite of ace pop tunes from an incredibly talented live performer (check out his shows on YouToob if you haven’t already). A promising talent indeed.

Key Track: 'The Love You Give'

Out Now on Island Records

7/10