Mr Jukes is a soul and jazz-inspired project from none other than Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club. It’s an album that seems unexpected given Steadman’s beginnings but that doesn’t matter. The roots of this album, God First, aren’t what you would expect. Apparently this album came about when Steadman travelled on a cargo ship from Shanghai to Canada and the opening track ‘Typhoon’ was recorded on this ship. The product of this soul searching is God First, although soul searching may not be the intention. Under a new name the record comes across more as a discovery and a free exploration of Steadman’s musical ideas. The album’s full of recognisable names: there’s Charles Bradley on the record, Lianne La Havas and De La Soul on ‘Leap of Faith’ which is possibly my favourite on the album.

The album isn’t experimental, however it is the sound of someone playing around with a ton of new ideas and fitting them under the same blanket. It’s a subtle album as well, which works very well in its favour. There’s a very mellow vibe to the whole thing and the album flows brilliantly. Each track blends very nicely into the other. It’s a brilliant album to have on whilst on the move. It’s unabrasive and relaxing. It’s also a very positive album. Not directly but, for myself anyway, I found reviewing this album a joyous experience. The point I noticed this was on the third track ‘Ruby’, which is a thoroughly pleasant song.

It is full of pleasantries this album, and should really be digested as one whole listen as opposed to picking out tracks. It’s a very nice change of pace for Steadman and the album is like a long conversation. It goes off onto different topics and tangents but remains in a solid direction. I really love albums which consider how they will be listened to as a long format. There’s moments on every track which are great; I would say the strongest songs sit in the middle with ‘Grant Green’ and ‘Leap of Faith’ adding a nice new flavour to the album. This is due to their brilliant guest spots from Charles Bradley, De La Soul and Horace Andy.

‘Leap of Faith’ is a favourite of mine and is arguably the strongest song on the album. It’s a sudden change of pace in the middle of the album. It gets amped up a little bit more and it shows how a small detail can really change a lot about a song. In this case it employs a live drum and is clearly played on a different kit. It’s little details like this which really get me excited about this album. Just adding a new sound or swapping one feature for another makes it exciting, it gives a listener something to come back for.

After this point things calm down again and at ‘Magic’ the album starts to draw to an obvious conclusion. The album then unwinds and ends on ‘When Your Light Goes Out’ which features Lianne La Havas and provides a beautiful end. It manages to touch back on the themes from earlier tracks and the end result sounds massive with lots of different layers to it and almost dabbles in the psychedelic at points.

Overall, God First feels like a brilliantly creative exploration from Steadman. It’s the work of someone brimming with ideas and an eagerness to explore new things. I feel it will win over those who listen, those who don’t will be missing out. Regardless, I hope we hear a lot more from Mr Jukes in the future as it proves that Steadman isn’t done yet.
Chris Middleton

Website: jukesjukes.com
Facebook: facebook.com/pg/mrjukesmusic
Twitter: twitter.com/mrjukesmusic