White Boy With A Feather

Jason Downs has already produced one of the feelgood hits of the summer in the form of the glorious title track to his debut album, a wonderful, funny, semi-autobiographical tale about a country boy’s experiences among the hustlers and bustlers of Noo Yawk City.

A mixture of singer-songwriter narrative and hip-hop savvy, courtesy of Milk D (of Audio 2 fame), the single and album opener serves as a perfect appetiser for what is to come. Milk’s breakbeats and streetwise rapping also work as a perfect foil to Jason’s resonant, wordy vocals, on tracks like the shimmering summery vibe of ‘Girls’ or the doomed romance of ‘Trouble’.

Jason wrestles with his part-Native American past on tracks like the cinematic ‘Cherokee’ and the brilliant ‘One Of Those Days’ (“These are the days that I’d like to beat someone/ And mister, it starts with you”), but thankfully they stop short of preachy.

White Boy is not without flaws, however. The cloying ‘Revenue’ and the cringeworthy ‘Hey’ are a little heavy-handed lyrically, when more dextrous wordplay would be welcome.

That aside, Jason Downs has conjured up a stunning debut.