‘Tinfoil boy’ is nauseous. The eerie opening monologue borders on the childlike; it is just so personal and we are instantly involved as it’s vulnerability closes the space between musician and audience before we crash into the chorus headfirst, like thunder without warning… It’s sickening- but it sickens in the best possible way. Whatever chaos JT creates, the sound is never unstable, the mood never uneasy and the listener never uncomfortable. This isn’t to say that Jamie fails in instigating the sketchy, knife-edge atmosphere with queens-of-the-stone-age-esque riffs mingling perfectly with dark and dubby effects. The garage guitars and electronic tones sit together like oil and water, beautiful to look at and listen to but constantly on the edge of volatility. It’s euphoric for all the wrong reasons, but with Jamie we never feel unsafe. Tinfoil boy was lazily referred to by the NME as a musical ‘departure’, but it’s difference in sound doesn’t necessarily mark a whole other tangent or route, it is simply growth, opening up a wider spectrum but still totally in line with his unfailing integrity and making total sense. This is our Jamie T, as good as he always was but better.
Buy ‘Tinfoil Boy’ here.