Album Review - What is Home to You? - OldJack

Sometimes listening to a band's new record is like hearing them evolve right before your ears. Let me present to you What is Home to You? from Boston's OldJack. Singer/Songwriter Dan Nicklin has done it again. With this new release the band seems to have taken a step just slightly out of their musical mold, into something even more amazing.

Though I've had the record for nearly a year, this weekend Oldjack is finally releasing What is Home to You? In the ten plus months I've had it, it's been listened to at least daily, and has become one of my favorite records.

It can get a little tricky to try to explain the sound of OldJack to someone who hasn't heard them, but once they listen, there will be no explanation needed. The feeling and soul in these eight songs digs into you, and shaking it off will be nearly impossible. There's a common thread of home throughout the whole of the record, coming home, going home, being home, the feeling of home, what ever that may be.

Compared to 2011's Gone Before You Know, What is Home to You? seems slightly darker, slightly more emotionally charged. Seeing OldJack live is always a treat. Last year (2012) they were one of the stand out bands for me at the Outlaw Roadshow in New York, which is where I was really introduced to them. Back in October, at the Outlaw Roadshow in NYC I got the chance to see OldJack again, playing some of these songs in a stripped-down, intimate setting. During the set you could feel the raw power and emotion in the songs, almost leaving you breathless and yearning for more. Hearing them with a full band on this record perfectly emulates that feeling. The depth in the lyrics hits you with every word, brings up some new feeling each time you listen, and then, there's that one song, that one line, that after listening to it over and over, all of a sudden hits you like nothing before, and you just get it. What is Home to You? is full of moments like that.

Kicking off the record is Miles Away, which is a guitar driven, rock and roll number with that classic OldJack soul thrown in. As we dig deeper into the record we are given the gut wrenching Oh Daddy. Over the years there have been countless songs written about families waiting for their Daddy to come home, be it from war, from work, from whatever. But this one, this one song, captures the sheer passion of worry, of longing, of the almost utter hopelessness one feels when they're alone. The song builds as it goes, until it practically explodes in a mass of guitars.

Another song along these same lies is Letter from the Frontline. The "frontline" here could be war, but could also be what ever you want, whatever you need it to be. So many of us have waited for someone we love to come home., that this song speaks to everyone. Both of these songs are lyrically minimalistic, but that's all they need to be. All the words that need to be said are there, the guitars and drums fill in the blanks.

Lonely Alone is my favorite song on the record, and really my favorite Oldjack song. I like to think of it as "my song." Lonely Alone feels most like a "classic" OldJack song, it's a bit peppy, a bit swingy, but then you listen to the lyrics, and you're like "hmm... yup. That's it." The opening line is one of my favorites on the whole of the record:

"You're all alone
in a place you know so well, you call home
one that welcomes you back with open arms,
a place called lonely alone"



This song and I connected. There are times I feel lonely, even in a house full of family, and this song gets it, gets me.

Easy to Love has yet another one of my new favorite lyrics ever:
"Guess I chased the rainbow down
And my pot of gold is you"

Every stinkin' track on this record is brilliant. Nicklin's vocals carry the songs to every imaginable point, and the back up from Kelly Davis rounds out the sound. Though I don't know the guitarists names, the guitar work on the record in amazing. Right down the line, this is a good, solid, record. Definitely on my best of 2013 list. So. Damn. Good.

What is Home to You? and other Oldjack music can be found here:
http://oldjack.bandcamp.com/

Until then, check out this video of OldJack performing Whistle Blowin' from their One on One Session from the Garden from the Outlaw Roadshow during CMJ 2014, and find the whole session here.