Album Review: Jake Bugg, A Modern Day Distraction

Garage rocker ‘Zombieland’ rips open A Modern Day Distraction, the sixth studio album from Nottingham indie star Jake Bugg. ‘All Kinds Of People’, complete with Bo Diddley-style riff, maintains the reckless pace and the stall is set. Certainly, Bugg is more than a few furlongs from his last album, the Abba-influenced Saturday Night, Sunday Morning.

Mind you, he still possesses impeccable pop-rock chops, evidenced by the galloping duo of ‘Breakout’ and ‘Keep On Moving’. Overall, however, A Modern Day Distraction witnesses a return to his gutsy indie-folk roots, thanks to cuts such as ‘Never Say Goodbye’ and ‘Waiting For The World’.

Poignant ballad ‘All That I Needed Was You’ more than channels Gene Pitney, which is only ever a goddamn wonderful thing, while ‘Beyond The Horizon’ reminds you that it was hearing Don McLean’s ‘Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)’ on an episode of The Simpsons that originally sparked the young Bugg.

Overall, a very enjoyable outing.

7/10