Give The Balky Mule What He Wants

Love can make a man do some pretty extreme things, just ask Sam Jones AKA The Balky Mule. The Bristol born singer songwriter currently resides in Melbourne, Australia after succumbing to his helpless romantic side. When asked what inspired him to travel to the other side of the world he simply states: “I just followed my girlfriend out here.” He then jokes, “with her full knowledge and consent, of course.”

This short statement sums up Jones’ personality and songwriting style perfectly. His delicate nature and endearing sense of humour is elegantly captured on The Length of the Rail, an album he recorded entirely from the confines of his bedroom. When discussing what he hoped to achieve with the album, he says “It is partly influenced by 60s producers like Joe Meek or Lee Perry. I love the warmth and the bass sounds they got,” before observing, “It’s an understandable influence considering mine was a bedroom recording using a limited amount of equipment.”

The skilled storytelling of Jones is not simply confined to his music. When speaking about his globe trotting adventures, he recalls a memorable performance whilst traveling in Asia: “I stopped over in Japan a couple of years ago, a friend met me from the plane and drove us through the night to play at a tiny cafe in Kyoto. I was singing all these lonely songs I'd been writing which felt odd given the language barrier I assumed there was between me and the audience. There was a novice Zen monk there from Essex called Steve who did impromptu beat boxing during the next band's set while I played drums on the woks in the kitchen.”

It doesn't take long before our conversation drifts towards musical influences, where Jones readily admits “Dymaxion were inspirational in their chopping together of garage band sounds and Raymond Scott style electronics. “I wanted to work towards a way of singing and a subject matter that felt comfortable with me," Jones elaborates. "Jonathan Richman and Syd Barrett are good examples of this. I really enjoy their songs.”

The multi-instrumentalist incorporates a lot of electronic samples into his music, but rather than make these the central focus of his songs, Jones simply tucks them neatly into the background to give each track a sense of enchantment. This is a concept he asserts was his intention from the very beginning: “There is a balance of electronic and acoustic sounds. The electric sounds are more towards the Raymond Scott side of things than Aphex Twin.”

Jones may be currently enjoying the warm reception his album is receiving, but his career didn’t get off to the best of starts. In 2000 the young troubadour was set to play his first ever solo gig under the moniker The Balky Mule at the legendary Cube Cinema in Bristol. However, fate had other plans. In a staggering twist of bad luck, the venue burned to the ground the night before he was due to perform and his debut was cancelled.

It seems that Jones’ fortunes were destined to change. Whilst living in Australia he unwittingly earned himself a recording contract thanks to his brother, lead singer of FatCat labelmates Concrete. “I had been sending my recordings back to friends in England, and was working up to collecting the best received ones into a demo to send to some labels. This process was cut short when my brother Matt sent his favourites to FatCat," Jones recalls, before joking: “Now I guess I'll never know what EMI would have made of it.”

Having emerged victorious from a full UK tour of intimate performances in May, it would appear that the Mule is indeed getting what he wants. It's a fair shout to say that you might discover your new favourite singer songwriter on TenTracks' FatCat channel this month.