Jake Morley has Many Fish To Fry
- Mar 01, 2011
Hammering his guitar, quite literally for the last few years and gaining residency at Ronnie Scott’s, Jake Morley presents his debut Album ‘Many Fish to Fry’. Since he first began as a solo-guitar genius with more than a lot of promise, Morley has grabbed himself a band, some extra stamina and a sound that can’t be ignored.
Bush Hall’s decadent intimacy, brimming with chandeliers seems the only place for a collection of work that has been such a long time coming. Beginning in darkness, Morley’s harmonic lap-plucking entices the crowd into a trance-like state - a fixation usually only pulled off by Paul McKenna. Morley launches into the jazzy slaps of ‘I Saw Something’, releasing a country feel while maintaining a Ronnie Scott’s aura. He claims that ‘maybe the cider counts towards my five a day’; plucky and heartening, the crowd believe every word he says and might be preparing Strongbow smoothies for a long time to come. It seems from the outset that Morley can do no wrong, and a wealth of fans can’t get enough.
Easy listening ‘Reeling’ leaves the crowd doing exactly that. Displaying serenity, maturity in emotion, and perfect crescendo’s in all the right places, Morley uses cleaner picks, tidy strums and a slight Nashville warble with every chorus, drifting away from the quirky and rhythmic vocals of its contemporary predecessors.
‘Freddie Laid the Smack Down’ slides effortlessly into an entirely diverse league - crowds are instructed to sing along, providing ‘Oh oh’s’ where asked. Riffs are weighty, walking bass lines are classical, yet overall a modern melody throws in enough nippy lyrics, barely leaving time for air. Fast-paced and captivating as pianos duel with his guitar, Morley clarifies that while moving from jazz to folk to country, combining all in good solid tunes, he really has made an album covering every emotion possible.
Morley suggests that while ‘This City’ might have been around for a while, claiming it took ‘a day to write and a month to learn’, he expresses his joy for his starting point. While he thanks his ‘amazing band’, they disappear for this one and Morley thumps and flicks his guitar horizontally, much like playing a piano while buttering bread in a bitter-sweet manic fashion. Morley can provide his own percussion, bass, rhythm and solo on only his guitar, indicating where the mastery of his song writing began.
Inviting choral backing to the stage, ‘Feet Don’t Fail Me Now’ has enough gospel to get the crowd jigging about in stadium-fashion, and suddenly Morley’s tranquillity moves up another level. With profound indie instrumentals, electric solos and tension building pauses, Morley shouts ‘I feel like a preacher’, remaining secular in topic. Feeling like an anthem written by Embrace, there will be nothing to stop this guy. Similar in anthem but folk in demure, Morley introduces album title track ‘Many Fish to Fry’ as a song about the many possibilities of what to do in life. Edgy rhythms bring folk into a newer age, overflowing with enough thought to have you daydreaming on the tube home while full of digs at potential shortcomings, Morley has the crowd cheering and swaying, and yes indeed like a preacher - and quite rightly so.
As an encore, ‘Inside My Mind’, the most graceful of the album, is performed acoustically around a grand piano in the middle of the room; this guy knows how to steer his crowd through his journey and knows how put on a great show. Delicate and full of splendour, the track is a golden ticket to a very positive future.
For all aspiring guitarists, Jake Morley is one to be watched. It may have once been said that he will be playing alongside Jools Holland ‘within a year’, and surely this is now imminent. Truly an album to appeal to all natures, as well as guitar-breaking enthusiasts, and while not electric in genre this will give Clapton a reason to shake in his boots.
9/10
Rebecca Lambert
