Jackson Scott – Sunshine Redux

Jackson Scott’s debut album Melbourne had been knocking around online for months before Fat Possum gave it a full release in 2013. With reviews ranging from “a winning introduction” to “pointless”, his hazily lo-fi bedroom pop called to mind Bradford Cox and Phil Elverum – at least until an oblivious Scott admitted this was not, in fact, the context of his influences. Follow-up Sunshine Redux explores his sound further, blending sunspot-flecked guitar riffs with simple, stoned melodies; off-kilter blues with hypnagogic lucidity.

When he’s good – Ripe For Love’s dizzying six-minute sprawl, the druggy goo of PRPLMTV – he’s very good indeed, with tempos lurching like a Syd Barrett record left on a radiator. By contrast, Pacify fails to scale the same heights, languishing in dizzied psych production whilst also being distinctly forgettable. Scott is far from without his charms, and there’s a certain joy to be found in simple melodies so gleefully obscured by sonic debris. A little tidying wouldn’t go amiss, mind. [Will Fitzpatrick]