Jakob Drummond is known for delivering hard-hitting lyrics that are conveyed with precision, over experimental, unconventional production that borrows different aspects from a wide gamut of genres and influences. He makes it his aim to not only inspire people with his music but to use it as a conduit to proclaim a message that will revolutionize an entire generation.
– Pitchforkmusic.com
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– indiexmusic
“Alone” is the latest release that sees Jakob dive deeper into the land of complex ear-shattering, powerful, electric guitar riffs. The atmosphere hits you like a Metal brick and cements the foundations of what’s to come.”
– Indiexmusic
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– indiexmusic
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Review: Jakob Drummond’s “Railyard Sound EP”
– Dakota Crider, Music Reviewer – @aiyanasolaris
This EP is a unique demonstration of Americana storytelling spoken mostly through Drummonds voice, his banjo, and a guitar.
The up close and personal nature of the sound is something that makes this collection and intimate experience for the ears.
You can clearly see the natural environments painted with his words that describe “plain as day” beauty, the kind that can be overlooked if you are too self involved.
All in all, this EP is a thoughtfully written collection of story songs that harken back to the essence of folk music: learning and teaching through melodic storytelling.
The Narrator seems to speak of the rough nature of our past and the at times even rougher endings that occur to move past them. Yet while highlighting these endings it is still clear that the search for something better is still on. Accenting the jet black melancholy with gory slasher film aesthetics to pass along the feelings of angst and explosive anger that seems to be a part of the narrators essence to sift through that anger and terrifying experiences and use them to create something new. the line “you can rip out all of the pages/but you are still my work of art/i am a narrator/and the great story i have made” accesses a mode of self examination that makes ripples in the stories perspective and tells the age old lesson of how one can always begin again.
The Edge Of Reno (interlude) is a story that through a thoughtful jaunty banjo tune steps into the shadow sinews of trying to move along the road of life without tripping on the potholes. Reno seems to be the essence of where the singer wants to stay but also leave at the same time. The yearning for traveling and seeing something greater but feeling confined to stay inside or confined is a theme that sneaks in the end. Garden Grown is a classic mountain folk tune that could only be sung and written by a being who came from extraordinary experiences and circumstances of particular modes of mind at a young age. They continually look forward to what they can truly bring to the table because of all that they went through to become the being they are. the banjo music stays on a very light strumming roll that accents the green scenery that seems to breathe through the waning whistling nature of the songwriters will and want to grow and expand past their previous vices. the at times uneasy hopefulness really brims and boils at the end where they finally accept who they are and what great changes they can create through being themselves always.
Made For Leaving (The Road) is a fast paced nostalgic look back at the wandering trials and tribulations of youth framed through a vagabond who slept on truck-stops calling his grandmother on the phone. Again the common theme is to express oneself and go see all that they can be from doing exactly what they need to do to be happy. While accepting they still have and or had room to grow mentally with the way they perceive and choose how to live. The acceptance again rolls around for all they have experienced and the traveling rambling nature of their Spirit begins to finally “walk in their own shoes” so to speak and become in tune with who they really are.
The Engineer is probably my favorite song that articulates the pure joy of doing what you want to and are called to do. The chords chug along like the train he describes commanding as if he’s done it before in a past life and simply recording the experience. the lyrics suggest and invoke the sense of pure peace that comes along with enjoying wherever one is at, even when the lonely nature of solitude permeates the experience. describing the fascinating duality of thought that accentuates the beauty of the human experience.
Drummonds’ lyrical psychology aside, the landscapes that are painted and the thought provoking introspection of his own psyche through the lyrics is what makes this track my favorite of the album and remains the reason why this debut EP is gem of artistic expression that shouldn’t be overlooked.