Jack Cooper - Sandgrown

Full of gentle beauty and winsome charm.

Label: Kill Rock Stars
Released: 25th August 2017
Rating: ★★★

Jack Cooper is a man of many talents. After making sparky indie pop with Mazes and effortlessly melodic sonic explorations with Ultimate Painting, he's struck out under his own name and once again knocked it out of the park on ‘Sandgrown'.

It's an album that takes its cues from classic British songwriters and is full of gentle beauty and winsome charm. Cooper's delicate voice is beautifully suited to these ballads filled with tales of growing up outside Blackpool in a once great destination gradually going to ruin.

There's a melancholy vibe, but it never gets depressing. There's a lot to unravel here; the music spreads from folk to jazzy excursions like ‘Sandgrown part 2'. A track like ‘Estuary' has a timeless quality that adds greater depth to an immaculately crafted collection. The album never loses its identity and marks another impressive step in the musical evolution of Jack Cooper. Martyn Young