And on the 7th day, I chose Jacob Banks' Village as my 24th favourite album and one of my favourite debut albums of the year.
Jacob has one of the most recognisable croons I've heard over the past couple of years. His signature gritty, layered tone send chills up the spines of many and an opening track like "Chainsmoking" is enough to do just that, as well as hooking the listener within the first minute. The only real negative I'd have for this album would be that with an opener as strong and confronting as this one, it means that not much else on the album grabs you in quite the same way, which leaves everything else with less of a bite.
That said, I was able to pick out my stand-outs very quickly after first listen. Aside from the opening track, "Prosecco", "Kumbaya (feat. Bibi Bourelly)", "Keeps Me Going", and "Be Good To Me (feat. Seinabo Sey)" caught my attention and each for different reasons. "Prosecco" was the light summer cookout bop that could easily feature in the back of a number of sun-drenched memories or commutes. "Kumbaya" - a beautiful duet with two unique but complementary voices, with the subtle strings throughout making just the right impact. "Keeps Me Going" - the nod to Jacob's Nigerian heritage in the instrumental here makes me smile. The production on "Be Good To Me" reminded me instantly of Nao and the addition of Seinabo Sey's feature made this a well rounded pop banger.
Overall, I think that Jacob's still got room to grow and build and can definitely afford to be more adventurous and experimental with his future material. His vocals won't fail him so it'd be nice to see him step a bit further out of his comfort zone with his next record. However, Village is a very impressive debut display of Jacob's vocal acrobatics and international influences.
Have a read of my thoughts on last year's spectacular number 24 here.
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