Jacky Carty - Home State Album Review

'Home State' is Australian singer/songwriter Jack Carty’s latest release. Having already topped charts in Australia, it is due to drop in the UK on the 18th November.

The album begins with the track ‘All at Once,’ one of the standout tunes. This is a highly ‘anthemic’ number that explodes into life really nicely. The well composed ’This Is What It Feels Like to Die’ takes the album in a much more dark and thoughtful direction which is followed in the same vein by ‘Kindness is a Dying Art.’ This song really grew on me with its driving drum groove and melodies.

The tone becomes slightly brighter on the next track ‘Rings’ with its ukulele intro. Jack continues here in his habit of providing slick and unpredictable tunes in an acoustic easy listening manner, but this time it has a more laid back vibe, which is exactly what is needed after the previous tracks.

Track five ‘Berlin’ starts with a lazy summer morning feel, which is in turns dark and hopeful and is the most noticeably lyrically interesting with a nice bit of glockenspiel in the chorus. The guitar solo, while not face melting is given a lift with a nice semi-quaver feel tambourine.

‘A Way With Me’ is another really pleasant summery tune. It is bright, positive and cements the albums theme of travel and seeing the world but this time via the traditional love song. ‘Instruments’ is another well written song with a really nice weighty bridge driven by some distorted guitar played with feeling, but the album seems to be about to become bogged down in that lazy, summery afternoon style until the next track ‘The Dive,’ a slow, dark, piano driven ballad that provides some reflection on what we’ve previously become accustomed to.

‘I’m Not Sure I’m Here at All’ takes us away from the darkness musically, if not lyrically. This is a catchy number with a great verse and some weighty guitars and drums driven by crash cymbals. This vibe is developed further and sped up on ‘Dear Old Soul,’ which continues to give the album some variation.
Track eleven, (also the final song) is a love song. ‘The Wedding Song’ is Jack’s own love story, with really pretty, laid back guitar lines and melodies.

On the whole ‘Home State’ is a collection of very well written and pleasant acoustic songs. It has decent production values (it’s absolutely brilliant considering it was recorded in Carty’s living room!) and a great deal of variety to keep the listener interested.

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