Luke Jackson – …And Then Some

New music is all about flexibility. And so today, the label “singer-songwriter” can mean a lot of different things. With its roots in folk music, the simple single-man-plus-guitar get-up can translate to something sexy and sweet like Mirah or it can be vivid and powerful like The Mountain Goats. It can be a rock legend like Neil Young or you can switch the guitar for a piano and have a pop star like Ben Folds. But on his debut album …And Then Some, Luke Jackson unwittingly plays to the generic qualities of the singer-songwriter title. The man has taken his guitar and written an album that would play perfectly on a soft rock radio station: the tracks are gentle, inoffensive, and often uplifting and self-affirming.

Sound-wise, the flow of the tracks is pretty consistent and smooth. “Come Tomorrow” starts upbeat, and from there Jackson banks on the miscellaneous instrumentation to take us through the next tracks. “This Life” is one of three songs on the album to feature a string orchestra, and “Trouble” really drives the “Am I listening to soft rock?” element home with a smooth, jazzy flute part. Track four, “Goodbye London,” is about as rousing as the record gets – it almost rocks out, but Jackson quickly calms us down with “A Little Voice.”

Aside from being pretty boring to anyone under the age of 55, …And Then Some’s biggest weakness is its lyrics. The songwriting is easy and predictable, sometimes painfully so. The album’s second to last track, “Longest Day,” is particularly guilty of this, opening with “Longest day, drift away/ And we won’t be coming back this way.” It culminates with the particularly cringe-worthy lines, “Did we read the ending before we read the start?/ Why is there this aching in my heart?” Anyone who has graduated Songwriting 101 wouldn’t write something like that and expect to be taken seriously. Luke Jackson looks to be around his forties. He should know better.

The second half of the album is much like the first with the exception of “1970’s Kids TV Show Theme”: a one minute, 39 second track. This track is not only noteworthy because Jackson’s lyrics are absent, but also because it’s interesting and playful. While most of the songs on ...And Then Some could serve as cheesy background music for a bad cable drama, “1970’s Kids TV Show Theme” sounds like bikes in the summertime or plotted adventure. Without lyrics, the song becomes intentionally whimsical instead of distractingly bad.

“1970’s Kids TV Show Theme” stands out because while the rest of the songs on …And Then Some may be mixed so far as tempo and instrumentation, they’re all essentially the same: Emotional abstractions lamenting the gray days but giving an uplifting message. Traveling through ...And Then Some is not unlike being guided through the Neighborhood of Make Believe by Fred Rogers. Everything is going to be all right, and it feels special. But really, most kids would usually rather go to Sesame Street – the characters are weirder and it’s not the same sappy themes over and over again.

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Tagged as: singer/songwriter

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