Jacob Fox – ‘The Life of a Loser Kid’

I first met Jacob at the Cambridge Folk Festival. We were both part of The Hub Project for folk musicians aged 18 and under (although they didn’t know I was 22 at the time….and that I didn’t really play folk music – and listening to his new album ‘Life of a Loser Kid’ I have to say, I don’t think he does either!)

‘The Life of a Loser Kid’ is the latest album from Yorkshire musician; Jacob Fox.
And, well, it’s awesome!
It’s punky, rocky, and aggressively acoustic – and that’s just the first track.

If you need something to put on in the car while you’re tearing through the middle of town, shouting at people to get out of the way and to turn down their stupid music so you can hear your music better (and then continue to turn your music up so much that people who are walking down the street give you a look that definitely means “what a t***” – but you’re there having the time of your life head banging, wheel drumming and singing along to the repeating chorus). Well…then this is what you need!
But if that’s not enough to convince you, now’s your time to go grab a drink and sit back. Believe me. You’ll need a drink and a comfy chair.


Did I not mention this album is 18 tracks?

EIGHTEEN

That’s a lot. And it’s a lot of writing, especially if you’re like me and love writing about each and every song.

Right. Have you got your tea? Comfortable?

Good!

Let’s get to it.

The first time I listened to this album, I didn’t know what to expect. I haven’t heard any of Jacob’s music before, so didn’t know if it was going to be folk, rock, pop, classical, J-pop – I had no idea. But the title – ‘The Life of a Loser Kid’ made me think it’s be a bit edgy, probably acoustic. And then I had the thought it would be recorded in his bedroom – poorly put together and a bit naff.
But I thought, what the hell. I’m about due to expand my musical interest. So I clicked play on the first track – ‘Never Take Me Alive’.

It starts with nicely compressed keys. Which instantly took me back 10 years and reminded me of ‘Glory Box’ by Portishead – and a felt a smile some on my face. Suddenly thought – it stopped. And then an orchestra of trumpets blew my head off.
I can’t express the massive smile/shock I had on my face in that moment. It was like a James Bond movie. Or the Oscars. Then the drums came in – and it all cut out to be met with vocals.

He’s almost rapping. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but you will never take me alive”.

My brain’s a bit confused right now. Glory Box, Oscars and rapping all within 12 seconds, and then he almost sings a nursery rhyme.

I have no idea what’s going on, but I love it!

After listening to it once round, I compose myself. Wipe the grin off my face, and go to listen to it a second time. I have to say, for a first track, this one is bloody awesome! It’s edgy, precise, catchy, and epic.

All the instruments are perfectly balanced and all work really well together. It’s the standard rock mix of guitar, bass, drums and keys topped with powerful vocals singing lyrics that get stuck in your head instantly, with some great Oooo’s and harmonies throughout.

Then, to complete the cycle, it finished just as it started – with beautiful sounding keys.

Okay. So that was track 1. I probably wrote waaaaaay too much for that song, but that’s what happens when I start to rant. So I’ll try to keep all the other song reviews a bit shorter, otherwise you’ll be reading this for weeks.

Track 2 is called ‘This Home’, which is a considerably less aggressive title than the previous one. But that doesn’t mean anything. ‘Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight’ by Fleetwood Mac is a much more aggressive song title than ‘Left Behind’ by Slipknot. But there’s no prize for guessing which song’s actually more aggressive.

Saying that, this one’s more relaxed than the previous one. It’s got some great grungy guitar sounds, simple drums and some brilliant 80’s style bass synth which really add to the song, helping push the guitar along.

All of that mixed with vocals makes for something very special! It’s chilled out, but still feels like a song that wouldn’t sound out of place in a stadium.

Track 3, ‘Dreaming’ is back to the loud and brash punky feel. Very punky actually – it’s sound’s a lot like Wheatus but without the feminine high voice.

I know I haven’t mentioned the lyrics in any of the songs yet – but I really enjoy the lyrics of this song! It’s about dreaming that he’s with a girl…of your dreams.

“When I close my eyes, I fall asleep and dream of you. Tonight you never walked away. In the night you were so into me, if only it wasn’t a dream.”

One bit that sticks in my head with this song is the part just before that line. He sings “I’d be so lucky if I wasn’t dreamiiiiiiiiiiing!” and I love the way he holds the word – screaming as if he’s haunted by his dreams, keeping her away from his reality………

Too much?

But there’s not much more I can say about this song. It’s only 2 ½ minutes long. But it’s not actually the shortest song on the album – there’s a couple of others that are even shorter. But for now, let’s move on to track 4.

‘Nothing’.

I love that this song starts with just one acoustic guitar strum, and then explodes into a full on country riff on electric accompanied by bass and drums.

The chorus of this song reminds me a lot of that Taylor Swift song. Unfortunately I’m not a fan of ‘Taytay’ (that’s right isn’t it?), so I can’t remember the song title. To be honest, I’m kind of annoyed at myself for knowing it was one of Swifty’s songs, so I’m glad I can’t remember the name of the song!

Personally, I think this is a much better song! It’s got a really fun and upbeat feel to it – mostly from the electric guitar and the vocal harmonies throughout – they really pick it up. And considering it’s a song about feeling like you’re worthless and, as the title says, ‘Nothing’ – it’s got a feel good vibe about it!

Of course that’s how I see it – it might be one of those songs that has a different meaning for different people, and by me thinking it’s about being worthless but has an upbeat feel – does that mean I feel like I’m nothing, but I don’t care about it, and would rather just dance around like a nutter and be happy with life as it is? I don’t think I feel like nothing. Although all I feel now is confusion in my own sentencing and words make sense to no-one. Wow, I must be tired.

Ok, time to wake up!

Next song! – ‘I’ll Be By Your Side’

This is my kind of song – relaxed, slow, great instrumentation, catchy lyrics, and vocals like Third Eye Blind! I think in a few more years, Jacob would have a voice just like Stephan Jenkins. If you imagine a voice like a bottle of wine. Jacob is currently 4-5 years in. Great taste, fruity, and a bit of a kick. But leave it a few more years, and it’s like Stephan Jenkins – mellow, full of flavour and goes down really easily. The same ingredients are there, but they’re more mature.

I mean, I don’t like wine, or know anything about it. But what I’m trying to say is – I really like Jacob’s voice!

“So lay down next to me, because you make everything alright, and now I can see that I’ll be by your side.”

*insert awesome guitar solo here*

Perfect. :)

Next track!

“My girlfriend’s freaking me out. She always follows me around. I can’t even leave the house without her trying to track me down.”

That’s the first line of ‘Freaky Little You’.

But the thing is, it’s almost a modern day love song about his girlfriend going through changes in her life – mostly about fashion choices.

It really reminds me of Jonathan Coulton’s writing style – quirky, pop-culture and a bit weird. But it’s the kind of song you can really enjoy listening to and sing along!

The instrumentation and vocals are very punky, upbeat and energetic, filled with attitude and little details that really add to the whole song. There’s a line with a ‘phone filter’ on, so it’s a bit more electronic sounding, and it’s used perfectly! For just long enough and not over used.

There’s also a couple of key changes which take it to the next level of amazing cheesiness. Including a vocal key change to finish, along with a laugh to finish. I don’t know if the laugh and vocal run down was intentional, but I don’t care. It was great!

‘Movie Cliché’ is the next track – starting with simple drums, and then joined by guitar. It’s quite a repetitive strumming pattern, but as soon as the vocals come in it cuts out leaving drums and bass, alongside vocals and cool laser sounds. It kinda sounds like a tube being swung through the air, but then put through a whammy pedal. I’m sure they must have done something similar in the original Star Wars’.

And suddenly, it’s finished. This was one of the other shorter songs, but still, it’s not the shortest!

What I’ve got from this album so far is that Jacob Fox has a real talent for composing – the music is brilliant, and the lyrics are a great accompaniment – really unique song ideas and beautifully written.

But I now think it’s time for another tea break.

No really, go grab a drink. That was track number 7, so there’s 11 more to go.

I told you it was a long album, and I said that I go on a bit, so you only have yourself to blame.

Done?

Okay, let’s move on to ‘Can’t Let You Go’.

This is going back to a more relaxed, acoustic sound – which is both good and bad for me. Good because I love acoustic music, bad because I’m tired – so I’m hoping this doesn’t tip me over the edge and I wake up 6hrs later having used my forehead to type ‘ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff….’ over 487 pages throughout the night.

Although, the chorus of this song starts with “I can’t get out of bed”, which is just plain inconsiderate to those of us who can’t wait to get into bed.

Of course, this is more because he’s drunk, and is thinking of someone special who left him, who he can’t let go of.

This is actually the first song of the album which is just guitar. To me it sound's like there’s a little synth in there somewhere holding the bass notes, but I'm fairly sure it's just guitar!

‘You Chose Me’ sounds like it’s the sequel to the previous song, about how she chose him, so why would she leave. Of course I’m typing this before even listening to the song. So was just going from the title – but it makes sense!

I will say, a lot of his songs are about relationships, and I know that 90% of songs are about relationships, 8% about money and hoes, and then 2% about death, life, emotions, and Christmas – so it’s statistically likely that he’s write about relationships – hypothetical or not. Although I’d be surprised if he’s had 18 songs worth of bad relationships. Because I don’t even think Miss Swift has written as many songs as that for her apparent massive amount of failed relationships. However, he could be writing about 1 relationship which happened to have a lot of ups and downs.

I guess we’ll never know.

Next up, song number….10, is ‘Mixtape Memories’, which starts brilliantly – bass, guitar, and vocal countdown and then in with drums and the all-important r-ockenspiel! (That’s what I call a glockenspiel that I imagine is played with that unbeatable rock n’ roll passion – full on head banging and jumping around).

Just the instrumentation alone would make an awesome chart song. It’s really catchy, but the lyrics really add to that, and makes it one of my favourite songs so far!

Now, when I say it’d make an awesome chart song, I mean it’s be something that people would really enjoy listening to. Not that it’s LIKE a chart song. Because they’re pretty dreadful – this is music, something to listen to. Not something to twerk to.

I think the lyrics are about him wanting to be compacted down to the size of a cassette tape, so he can be played in a car on a mixtape….but then it’s a modern song, and he’s young. So it’s probably more like “here’s my song, put it on your iPod in your memories playlist”.

Right, we’re getting through them now!

‘The End of the Road’ is next up.

Starting with finger picked guitar, it’s got a really chilled out feel to it. Although I’m still alert just in case the full band come crashing through.

This feels like an encore song – something he’d play at the end of a long set, just to finish it off. Candles in the air swaying back and forth and all that jazz.

Half way through a synth organ joins in – but it doesn’t distract from the vocals or beautiful guitar, and we’re now nearing the end – so I’m guessing the band has taken a break for this song, which I appreciate. It’s breaks up the album, and allows for a breather.

If I had to tag one of the songs on the album as ‘beautiful’ then I’d chose this one….for now. Of course, it could all change in the next 7 songs – which is almost the length of a standard album left.

I admire Jacob for putting 18 songs on 1 album, because he could’ve really easily made two 9 song albums. It’d be more hassle, but probably more money and more recognition for having more albums released. But he didn’t. That means you can buy 1 album and get 2 albums worth of tracks, which is a bargain no matter who’s album it is – but with this it’s one hell of a good deal!

Right, back to the punk rock!!!

The beginning of this song. My God – yes!

“Hey kids, you’re listening to Loser Kid Radio, let’s get right into the next song. It’s Jacob Fox with ‘Just Can’t Get it Right’  Let’s go! Wooooooaaaaaaahhhhh!”

I can already tell I’m gonna like this song! ‘Just Can’t Get It Right’ – well, I can say, he definitely got it right!

It’s got so much attitude, and I love it! There’s lead guitar doing awesome solos, drums are on point, lead and backing vocals are brilliant, all beautifully stitched together into amazing instrumentation and lyrics to make a fun and bouncy song!

I think it’d go alongside songs from the late 90’s/early 00’s – ‘Goodbye Mr. A’, ‘Year 3000’, ‘All Star’, ‘Stacy’s Mom’. You know, all those cheesy songs that everyone loved and will be classics for years to come!

‘Never See Her Again’ is up next.
This is the rockiest song so far – it’s quite heavy, but nice and simple. I’m gonna risk it by saying the music sounds a bit like Nickelback – I know, that’s not much of a compliment. But I quite like them! It’s my guilty pleasure.
Jacob’s voice is nothing like…’that dude from Nickelback’s voice, and the music isn’t as heavy as Nickelback – there’s no double bass pedals and the guitars actually in a key that’s audible, and not so deep that you can’t hear it…..so, it’s not actually that much like Nickelback.

“She took one look at my heart and then tore it apart, I hope I never see her again.”

Love the instrumentation in this one, it’s quite few and far between and stripped back – but it’s a really nice change from some of the previous songs, which are quite full.

The next song is ‘Lonely’.

“I don’t wanna be lonely…don’t wanna be lonely tonight.”

This song reminds me a lot of ‘Can’t Let You Go’ about 6 songs ago – it’s acoustic, stripped back, and about being in bed. Although, funnily enough, this is about not wanting to be lonely!

But unlike ‘Can’t Let You Go’, this song just stays with vocals and acoustic guitar. Which is perfect for this song. It’s all it needs – anything more would take away from the feel and the lyrics.

It has stops and jabs that would fit in with a full band setup, but it’d lose its innocence.

The little riffs at the beginning and end are great – and then he strums in the main body of the song, just to give it a little pick up.

Next up, is something very different. Actually very different to anything else on the album. This is still the album isn’t it??

Yeah – this is ‘Warriors Shout’. It’s all electronic. Even the vocals have a robotic effect – and I love it!

It’s definitely the ‘club-number’ of the album (imagine if all albums had to have a club/dance track – that’s be hilarious! I’m just imagining all the recent releases – Sting, Cliff Richard, Bon Jovi, Madness, Michael Buble. That would be amazing!)
Anyway, back to the song at hand. It sounds like a remix of a song, but it’s completely original…..I think. I don’t know – I don’t tend to venture into clubs. But I really enjoy dub-step and electronic music. So this sits really nicely with me – plus it’s not too invasive. It’s not blowing me head off, and remember what I said right at the beginning about this being an album to play loud in the car? Yep – this track would work beautifully for that! It’s almost an anthem, even though it’s only 2 minutes long.

“See no evil, but I saw dreams in tatters on the floor. Hear no evil but say it all. Speak no evil but hear my roar.”

We’re nearing the end!

….and this is a cover.

And what an interesting choice for a cover.

“Her name is Noelle, I had a dream about her. She rings my bell.”

Yep – ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ by Wheatus. You know, that band I said he sounded a bit like about 3000 words ago?

I must be honest though – out of all the songs so far, this is by far my least favourite. It’s a good cover – although being a drummer I immediately notice the drums are in a bit of a weird timing (and out of time), which throws the whole song – they sound like they’re being played by someone who no.1 doesn’t know how the song goes, and no.2 isn’t a drummer. Which is a shame – because on all the other songs, everything is beautifully tight, original, and make for brilliant listening material.
This would be the song on the album that I’d always skip. It could’ve been really good – his voice is great, the guitar and bass are on point, there’s even a female vocalist towards the end.

But the drums – argh! I really wanted to like this cover, so it’s a shame.

Anyway – time to turn my frown upside down, and listen to the next track.

Okay, so before listening to this, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a cover, so used trusty old Google to see if there was a song named the same thing……..

Oh, there is.

Ah, it’s the same song.

Okay – so this is another cover – ‘What Happened To Your Band’ by McBusted. You know, that band that’s made up of McFly and that band I mentioned Jacob sounded like about 2000 words ago? (For those aged over 40, that other band is Busted. Like, that’s their name. They haven’t been arrested. Well – they might have been. I don’t know, I don’t tend to check up on them.)

But it’s got me thinking – how many of his other songs (if any) are covers? It doesn’t say in brackets ‘What Happened To Your Band (Cover)’ so the only way I knew that was to Google the song title.

I must be honest though – it’s not as bad as ‘Teenage Dirtbag’!

Which is a relief – it’s actually not too bad – I haven’t listened to the original, and I’m not going to, I’ll stick with this version and pretend it’s his own song.

The instrumentation is noticeably simpler than the previous songs, the vocals are just as good as the other songs – the lyrics aren’t great – but it’s not his song, so I’m allowed to say that!

It’s got some great backing vocals shouting in the background, which are probably the same as the original – but even if they are, they sound great!

Anyway – enough covers – there’s 1 more song left!

ONE MORE!

And it’s not a proper song, it’s an instrumental piano piece. Which really doesn’t fit in with the last 2 songs, or the whole album really - but it’s actually quite refreshing. Back to something original, even if it’s only 44 seconds long.

It’s called ‘To Be Continued…’ – don’t know if that’s a nod to a possible follow on album, which is more covers, or more instrumental – or just more!

(I hope it’s not an album of covers….)

Anyway, I don’t know what else to say about this track. It’s lovely. Short and sweet, and the piano sounds very nice.

That okay?

Well – it better be, because that’s it!

FIN.

Right, now time for a bit of a summary!

Right, where do I start?

Well – I haven’t mentioned this yet because I wanted to save it until the end. When Jacob asked me to write this review, he said “be kind – I had to do absolutely everything myself to make this thing”

EVERYTHING.

He wrote (apart from the 2 covers), recorded, and mixed everything on this album all by himself. That’s unbelievable!

I didn’t mention it before because knowing that makes everything a lot more impressive, and also a lot more personal. If I said I didn’t think something was mixed properly, or if the guitar sounded off – then it would be directed at Jacob.

Fortunately for him, without the need to be kind – I can say it’s a brilliant album – all of his originals are great – they have brilliant instrumentation, vocals, lyrics, and are all nicely mixed!

It all sounds extremely professional, like it’s been recorded and mixed in a studio by a producer.

If you get a chance to listen to this album, do it. It’ll take a while, because it’s 18 tracks (which makes it more amazing that he recorded it all and managed to mix it all to the same level, and make it all work together as a whole!) and it’s so worth giving it a listen.

If you get a chance to buy this album – buy it, and then listen to it in your car at full blast. You won’t regret it!



You can check out Jacob Fox's Facebook page HERE - make sure to give it a Like to keep up with any news!

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Catch you next time!

Sam

www.bongoboy.co.uk

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