Jeff Wootton - The Way The Light
Jeff Wootton is a 28 year old singer, lead guitarist and song writer from Manchester, England. Best known for his lead guitar work in the strange virtual band Gorillaz, alongside with ex-The Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon.
Most recently, Wootton has collaborated in a few British bands but last month proudly released his debut solo album.
Wootton plays all the instruments except the drums, which are played flawlessly by Gang Of Four skin beater Mark Heaney.
The dark dreamy psychedelic mood of the album is evident from the start of the first track “Sea Of Sound”. As the name suggests, the sea of sound is created by Wootton’s layered fuzzy guitar and organ mix. It’s definitely a strong instrumental and a great start to a brilliant album.
The album drifts in and out of musical consciousness moving from the up tempo garage psyche rock “ Venus” to the Pink Floyd greasy flavored offering “Ceremony Waltz”, one of the best tunes here I must say.
‘So Lonely”, begins in an acoustic way and has the best melodic vocal performance from Wootton. The song changes halfway into a Hendrix infused fuzzy guitar nightmare that will force your ears to open wider and let the raunchy sound waves hit your brain causing an ice cream brain freeze of epic proportions.
All of the songs are strong here. Wootton has done a fine job in the mixing room creating multi layered guitars and vocals. This is evident on my favourite tunes of the disc, “Reprise (Reverie Interlude) that leads seamlessly into “Reverie”. The powerful driving guitars and bombastic drums rock “Reverie” close to the best song of the year podium.
Wootton’s lyrics are cryptic to be sure, this manifests in the wonderful “The Way The Light Bends Around You” The words create a vivid moving picture in your mind and intertwine perfectly with the sparse acoustic guitar and organ. After hearing this all I can do is to quote the illustrious Kool Aide man, Oh Yeah!
The epic “The End” fittingly brings the album to a close in fine fashion. Distorted guitars gradually lead up in intensity, add in some strange sound effects and steady drumming and it all culminates into a musical feast for all of your senses.
I look forward to hearing more from this young Brit and after hearing this debut, he has created a hard act to follow. The challenge is on Wootton!
