Sweet Jane – Sugar For My Soul

Posted by Mark in Reviews | 0 comments

Sweet Jane – Sugar For My Soul
9.75/10

Two years ago now a little known Irish band approached me via e-mail about an introducing post – little did I know that they would become one of a small handful of bands that I am still passionate about!

I listened to some early mp3s by Sweet Jane and was very impressed. Then came the wonderful Blackboots and Blackhearts E.P. that still rips loudly through my speakers in 2010. That alone is some achievement, as anyone who receives in the region of 50 promos a week will confirm that you become pretty fickle! Maybe too fickle.

Fast-forward to the present day…Sweet Jane have grown into a fully fledged heavyweight! This debut release that arrives on July 2nd on Reekus Records is everything and more that I hoped for.

Sugar For My Soul is a full-on wall of sound, rock ‘n’ roll record, right from the opening bars of “Bleed”. Sure, you can draw comparisons to the likes of The Raveonettes and Mazzy Star in places, but that would do Sweet Jane a real disservice as tracks like “Close Your Eyes” show that they have their own unique slant on the world of shoegaze, nugaze or whatever the smart journos are calling it now.

What I’m driving at here is Sweet Jane don’t fit into clichéd genre boxes. Take “I’ve been Waiting” and its real bluesy feel wrapped around Lydia’s dulcet velvety vocals. It seems to me that Sweet Jane have benefited from playing live with the likes of Glasvegas, White Lies, A Place to Bury Strangers and The Kills to name but a few. I expected something special from Sweet Jane but the magnitude of this record has astounded even me! The depth and layers of “Something For My Soul” are mixed beautifully. The track sequencing throughout gives it that ebb and flow that I love. I hate it when a record feels like it is just thrown together as a collection of songs.  

The legendary BP Fallon has described the band as “The Raveonettes having sex with The Jesus & Mary Chain”, but I would sprinkle in a little Velvet Underground to that mix. The album closes how it starts -with a bang – in the form of “Fade To Heartbreak”, but with a twist at the end. You will have to buy the album to find out what though! I could wax lyrical all night about this record but for those of you who like to rate things this one hits 9.75/10 on the Richter scale for me!

http://www.myspace.com/officialsweetjane