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Little Juke: Departures From The States Of Mind
(Self-released)
LP | CD | DL
Out now
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
West Midlands titans deliver an epic debut album. Sam Lambeth reviews.
Alex Ohm was in danger of becoming Dudley’s answer to Axl Rose. After the irresistible jauntiness of his 2021 single Joy, the singer-songwriter and his band’s recording career fell silent. Sure, there were gigs aplenty, all well received and all across the country. But those hoping for an album, an EP, a single…hell, even a 30 second voice note were left to look at the calendar and wonder if Ohm was crafting his own Chinese Democracy.
Don’t worry, though. While Departures from the States of Mind is polished, it’s not drowning in its own bombast like Guns n Roses’ last studio effort was. Now Ohm and his hugely talented band are known under the moniker Little Juke, but the sound they make is bloody big.
Just take the punchy Time Is On My Mind, a driving, bristling rocker bolstered with rousing sax. Equally as anthemic is No Illusions, whose reflective and nimble choruses are augmented with spine-tingling strings that threaten to live in your head rent free forever. Even when they band play it straight, it’s still bold and atmospheric – see the punishing, gritty slide guitars that punctuate Round of Applause.
The beauty of Departures from the States of Mind is that it’s creative, energetic and restless, without ever sounding scattered. When they dial things down, their talents really come to the fore. Ohm has a long standing love of Radiohead and Little Juke have never sounded so much like the Oxford miserablists than they have on the stuttering, plangent riffs of Strange Fruit. Furthermore, Ohm does his best Thom Yorke warble on the plaintive ballad When the Sea Came to Tea, which ebbs and flows beautifully before bursting into the kind of glorious crescendo Sigur Ros would adore.
It was a long time coming, but Little Juke’s debut record is a masterpiece. Daring, diverse and effortlessly catchy, Ohm and his gang have crafted an album that should keep their star rising.
~
Little Juke are on Facebook and X.
All words by Sam Lambeth. Sam is a journalist and musician. More of his work for Louder Than War is available on his archive. You can find his music on Spotify.
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