Friday, May 20, 2011

Jon Allen - Sweet Defeat

Jon Allen Music by Jon Allen Music

Following on from his acclaimed debut album folk rocker Jon Allen’s new one has a more bluesy kind of feel that really suits the slight rasp to his voice (imagine a less grizzled Rod Stewart...although let’s face it, is anyone more grizzled than Rod Stewart?). It’s a classy collection of finely crafted songs and, with their roots firmly in classic ‘70’s singer songwriter territory, you can just imagine unearthing this album on scratchy old vinyl at the back of a cool record shop somewhere. But whilst it might be a little out of time, that’s also its strength. Clearly Jon and his band are just doing what they love and you can hear that in each and every word and note. Consequently it’s an incredibly easy album to fall in love with too. From the Stealer’s Wheel-ish Lucky I Guess to the soulful, Hammond tinted title track there’s a touch of the old friend about it from the very first play. Defeat never sounded so sweet.

Sweet Defeat's out on Monologue Records on May 23rd and you can catch Jon on tour across the UK. (Click on the Soundcloud link above and you can hear a selection of tracks from this and his debut release 'Dead Man's Suit. Visit his Facebook page and you can stream 5 full tracks from the album and listen to an exclusive interview too...ain't technology wonderful eh?)

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