Album review: Jackie-O Motherfucker -'Ballads Of The Revolution'

Like Mark E Smith pitching a tent in dusty rural backwaters, Tom Greenwood’s 15-year journey through the dark valleys and sun-blessed plains of Americana in Jackie-O Motherfucker has seen him find and part ways with 40 fellow travellers. It keeps the creativity flowing and ‘Ballads…’ sees Greenwood stirring the ferment for one of JOMF’s finest records to date. It’s a heady beast that resembles Spiritualized at their most ecclesiastical, but droning incantations such as ‘Skylight’ are murkier than Jason Pierce’s drug-addled platitudes. Closer ‘A Mania’ is a melancholic farewell that waves JOMF off along unknown roads, in search of new sonic guerrillas with whom to continue the struggle.

Luke Turner

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8 out of 10