Album Review: Jake Bugg - 'Alamo'

UK singer/songwriter Jake Bugg returns with his seventh LP, Alamo this week! Bugg first found fame with his self-titled debut released when he was just eighteen years old. Now thirty two years old, we find Bugg a veteran of the music industry, and he is asking the big questions. Bugg goes through a reckoning with himself and who he can trust on Alamo. Via press release, Bugg stated: “It’s really hard to know who to trust in this day and age, especially growing up how I did and having to be vigilant and observant of the people around you…”

With Alamo, Bugg leans to his country roots, as the album utilizes a lot of acoustics (with electric leads). I was absolutely enamored with the title track. Its tenderness evoked memories of John Prine for me. I found myself overocome with emotion on this one, I didn’t cry, but I was damn close. Bugg does some great work on this one with the acoustic, as its melody is primarily fingerpicked, with accompanying slide guitar.

Alamo also finds Bugg at a career crossroads, as this release is his first as an independent artist. “The Life” also features a great fingerpicked melody, and I reminded me of Paul Simon. It slips away softly as if returning to dust. “Ten Stories High” is another winner for me, I loved the pacing of the track, and Bugg’s vocals shine on this one. Lyrically it’s absolutely stunning and had me reeling yet again. The chorus goes “Why do I feel/Ten stories high?/Out of my head but so alive/Why do I feel/This is my time?/If it’s the end/We’ll be alright.”

Bugg wraps things up with another emotional one, in “Everywhere I Go”. This ballad again features a primarily acoustic melody, (which is fingerpicked), accomapanied by some gentle leads. Bugg’s vocals float almost ethereally above the rhythm, as he flutters in and out of a falsetto. What a way to land this one.

Rating - 9/10