EP Review: Come Along With Me — The Jackie Papers

The Jackie Papers are a relatively new band from Georgia, USA, who make music that promotes kindness and well-being for listeners of all ages. They also, in a technological age, highlight the importance of physical movement, fresh air, and the type of old-fashioned games that can't be found on an IPad. Their latest release, Come Along With Me, offers a confident introduction to their sound, blending pop sensibility with warmth, creativity, and just enough edge to keep things interesting.

The EP opens with ‘Keep on Walking’, a gentle yet captivating track built around a sultry vocal and sparse acoustic guitar. As the song unfolds, subtle layers of instrumentation drift in and out, creating an engaging, minimalist atmosphere that rewards repeated listens. This is a track about individual empowerment, where the lyrics encourage the young listener to 'keep on walking' despite life's setbacks.

'Hide and Seek in the Dark’ brings a certain playful energy to the proceedings, bouncing along with raw abandon. Here, an additional female lead vocal is introduced, providing just a hint of the musical depth of the band. Slightly tongue-in-cheek, the track builds toward a chorus that bursts into life, reimagining a famous childhood game with a clever and original twist. The lyrics are largely descriptive, providing a unique narrative to the intricacies involved in such games. This includes finding the 'perfect spot' to hide, coming 'ready or not' or the need to 'run because we cannot hide'.

'The Recess Bell’ introduces some crunching guitars, which somehow manage to blend seventies new wave with surf-rock influences reminiscent of The Beach Boys.  A near-stop towards the end gives way to a quiet refrain, adding a reflective close to an otherwise energetic track. Once again, the array of sounds is quite extraordinary, with the unexpected arrival of a harmonica toward the end adding even greater potency to the overall sound.

Last by not least is the enticing ‘Come Along With Me', a song once again driven by some formidable bass and drums, laying the foundations for the instrumentation to really shine. Direct and confident, the song provides an invitation for young people to step outside and truly embrace the beauty of nature. The song concludes with an excellent guitar outro executed with Robert Fripp–style precision. 

Overall, this is an impressive release from a band at ease carving out their own space, with a unique and original sound. Their music somehow manages to cross the divide, mixing paradoxes together with consummate skill. Gentle yet intense, light yet brooding, but always engaging. Perhaps most crucially, the band encourages young people to get outside, breathe in the fresh air and live in the moment. They have in their short time together already created a sound that deserves your attention, and on this form I'm sure there's a lot more to come. Watch this space.

The Jackie Papers — raw power.