Review Summary: Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamsie divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
Formally described as a little bit of the Mars Volta, mixed with Trophy Scars, and Glassjaw, Jacobi Wichita’s sound is an intriguing mix of various elements of Latin, hip-hop, experimental, and post-hardcore music.
After months of delays and legal issues, Connecticut natives Jacobi Wichita have finally released their follow up to their debut album “Bonez Malone.” Their debut was released by the band without a record label and became a classic to the small audience that heard it.
Thanks to the positive response of “Bonez Malone,” and plenty of shameless YouTube videos, Myspace promoting and frequent touring, Jacobi Wichita attracted the attention of indie record label Eyeball Records who offered them a spot on their roster.
“Lambsie Divey” was released on February 16 and shows the band making great strides at perfecting their style.
On “Lambsie Divey,” the different influences seem to complement the other as opposed to their debut where the songs would jump from genre to genre quite randomly and without warning.
Throughout the album guitarist, Ben Lopez, shows off his skills with turntables and sampling, but instead of copying beats and melodies from other artists, they sampled nursery rhymes.
Though the sampling of nursery rhymes created plenty of copyright infringement hassles, their use on the album was essential as it creates a common theme throughout.
This makes the whole listening experience feel more complete as the rhymes are used to smooth out the transitions between songs.
“Lambsie Divey” shows the band breaking away from the heavier aspects of their sound. Jacobi Wichita have completely ditched the more metal-esque musical techniques like breakdowns and double bass drumming that were so prevalent on the debut.
Even the screaming vocals, which were featured on almost every track on the debut have been significantly reduced allowing the band to become more accessible to the average listener who would be turned off by such things.
Jacobi Wichita are great at writing songs that are unique and varied from one another. For example “1:40” is a groove heavy song built around the archetypal “verse chorus verse chorus” outline that allows you to just flow along as the beat stays steady throughout.
This is in direct contrast to standout track “Indian Giver” that showcases a plethora of tempo changes and guitar riffs that leads you in more directions that a broken GPS unit.
The track “Hype Merchant” shows the band taking a break and allowing vocalist Brendan Rodriguez to show his versatility as he raps the entire song.
The closing track “Satisfied Never Pacified” is the most emotional song on the album and it makes sense that it is also the heaviest.
The song has a strong, heartfelt climax that slowly fades out with the sound of “Little Bo Peep” and “Mother Goose” nursery rhymes leaving you feeling completely satisfied with the listening experience.
With “Lambsie Divey,” Jacobi Wichita finally sound comfortable with themselves.
Expect big things out of this band as they have too much talent to stay in the shadows.
Download Now (legally of course) – “Indian Giver,” “C House.”
