Jake Waitzman, aka Jaco, gives us a breath of power-pop scented air as he drawls his way through ‘Weigh You’, his latest single, out now, taken from his forthcoming album, ‘Dose’. Set to come out on October 9, the album will be released via Cornelius Chapel Records.
Jaco draws us in with his Beck-like upbeat indie sound, which gives us a sense of direction in this often otherwise dreary, colourless doom-and-gloom of Covid-19. We might think there’s no place for power pop, but there’s as pervasive and argument for it; instead of focusing on the negative we can embrace the freedom we’ve had in being able for the most part to name our own hours, to not have to do the 9-to-5 grind, to – depending on circumstances – be able to cast our attention onto turning our homes into oases of calm.
And an oasis is precisely what Jaco is creating in his music video for ‘Weigh You’ – albeit an imagined one – we first see him as he drowsily rocks in a hammock, not outdoors but in a cocooned bedroom of those things treasured to him; this gives way to a seeming dream sequence shot in black and white on what appears to be a tropical island, the crisply lit footage making it seem more real than real life – something we can all relate to in this time of Pandemic and hyper-real dreams. Jaco strides around, king of all he surveys, while ants, tadpoles, snakes, and spiders all go about their business, just getting on with it. Eventually he returns to a van park, entering a hand crafted portable dwelling, which is revealed to be where he – Jaco lays sleeping. There’s a sense of that just-before-waking confusion – was it real or did I dream it – which could well be applied to a lot of what we’re all experiencing this year.
‘Dose’ is the follow up to last year’s ‘You Know‘, and is the second album out of a trilogy released by Jaco for Cornelius Chapel Records. The releases see the Birmingham-Alabama-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist take a step away from his main role as a drummer for the likes of Vulture Whale, and Wes McDonald, allowing him to express his own way of thinking, his own sound, and his own vibe. We’re here for it.
Check out more about Jaco and his music online on Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, YouTube, and his Official Website.
