November 1, 2010

House Jacks - Level

As longtime fans of this talented, pioneering Bay Area a cappella group, on "level" a quintet composed of vets Austin Willacy, Deke Sharon, Roopak Ahuja, Troy Horne, and Jake Moulton. When we first fell in love with the Jacks they were blowing us away reinventing covers of Led Zep's "Kashmir," the Gershwins' "Summertime" and Lennon/McCartney's "All You Need is Love." In the last few albums they have been reinventing themselves, using the songwriting, composing and arranging talents of everyone in the group to give notice that the Jacks are still a cappella Big Dogs. "Level" is 12 songs, all original material, with "You Were Everything," "From the Boy in Me," "The Path You Walk" and "Show Your Face" written and composed by Austin; "The Boy is Gone" by Roopak; the lovely, surreal "All Away" by Deke; "Days of Desire" and the symphonic "Believe" by Roopak and S. Chakrabarti; "You're the One" by Deke, Austin and Roopak; " one of the best a cappella blues songs we've heard, by Jake and Deke, "So Bad (It Feels So Good);" "Red Dress" by Roopak and Jake; and the final cut, the heart-tugging "To The Only One" by Troy. Always known for grounbreaking vocal percussion, the Jacks have added electronic augmentation to create synthesizer effects and a rich, full sound that mimics almost any instrument. Listen to the faux synthesizer on "Red Dress," and "Believe" featuring Savita Ahuja is a guest vocalist (which, as far as we can tell, has the first faux a cappella sitar we've heard) it's an unbelievably rich vocal tapestry with an infectious hook. Every cut on "Level" reinvents what is possible in a cappella, and the album should take the Jacks to the level we think they deserve, one of the most creative performing and recording groups in a cappella! 7595 CD 14.95
Listen to "You're the One

Posted by acapnews at November 1, 2010 10:48 PM