To call Andrew Jackson Jihad a folk-punk band does them a great disservice. Really, it does any band a disservice, but that is far from the point right now. The point is that listeners need some point of comparison, so to make everyone’s life easier, I will simply call Andre Jackson Jihad a folk-punk band.
Now that that’s out of the way, Andrew Jackson Jihad’s second full-length album is a fantastic blend of folk instrumentation, punk attitude, independent spirit, and straight up good song-writing. Lead singer and guitarist, Sean Bonnette, intones with what some might call a whine while strumming his acoustic guitar at sometimes blinding speeds. Ben Gallaty work on the standing bass adds another element rarely seen in today’s independent music.
On to what, from what most people say, is the best part: the songwriting. The songs on this album range from deadly serious to laugh-out-loud funny. Most songs have some combination of the two. I cite as an example the ninth track “People two: the reckoning.” “There’s a bad man in everyone, no matter who we are. There’s a rapist and a Nazi living in our tiny hearts. Child pornographers and Cannibals, and politicians too. There is someone in your head waiting to ***ing strangle you.” The words here themselves are incredibly funny. I laugh just reading them. But if you think about it, there is a truth behind them, a serious, dark truth. But, lest you feel this is a band of misanthropic songsmiths, take a gander at the closing lyrics of the album from “People.” “I have faith in my fellow man, and I only hope that he has faith in me.” And that is the theme of the whole album. People are bad, but god damn it they’re good too. |
