This five track EP follows a trend of bizarre, evasive, poetic lyrics and a subtly gothic sound. It starts out strong with title track “Jackdaw” — which is a small, gray-headed crow known for its curiosity. The beginning of the song is reminiscent of the Stranger Things opening theme, leaning heavily on electronic pulsations and reverb. The verses morph quickly, and the abstract lyrics blur the meaning and direction of the song, but the strong back beat and steady forward progression of the chords and vocals make the song an overall success. “Jackdaw” would fit perfectly into an afternoon sitting on the couch, coffee cup in hand.
While “Jackdaw” has an autumn sound that makes you feel like you’re walking down a misty, leaf covered road, the second track, “Home,” has a much brighter, springtime sound that is more reminiscent of an inebriated night out with friends, dancing and partying the night away. The lyrics get a little less abstract, but a little more repetitive with the chorus chiming, “home again, make me feel like the night won’t ever end again.” While the lyrics might not be super moving, the catchy musicianship of this track definitely gives it a pop-alternative sound that is solidly stream-worthy.
Third track “Where’d You Run?” moves again in a completely different direction. The drum beat is heavily upbeat focused, and, with the steady keyboard chord movement, the song takes on a jazzy-funk background mood with a heavy autotune-esque electronic focus up front. With a high-energy guitar line, though, and chill, calm vocals, the track is an eclectic blend of psychedelic sounds — it gives the feel of walking into a kaleidoscope. The instrumental repetition becomes much more noticeable almost exactly halfway through, when the vocals cut out for the rest of the five minute track and the focus is solely on the guitar solo and then the keyboard riffs. It gives a sense of lost momentum but also allows the song to fade out in an effective way.
“Tidal Wave,” the next track, keeps that upbeat groove focus and brings back the abstract lyrics: “most of the time, you brush it off and carry on. / Once in a while, you find a thorn in your side. / A broken watch is right two times a day. / I’ll pardon you ‘cause time is moving slowly.” The focus in this track sits in the guitar melody and vocals, with the drums serving as a light embellishment. Around minute three, the track hits a very punchy, artistic moment, where the sounds begin to build and the band uses a water motif to build the tension and volume, but, at the fourth minute, the track plateaus and sits back into the original groove.
Final track “Rapture” again shifts into a different sound. The nine-and-a-half-minute tune sits into a slow R&B-type rhythm and begins to feel almost like a religious experience for the first couple of minutes with a gong sound echoing in the background and the ebb and flow of cascading sound. The track builds up until minute four but then falls back into the comfort of repetition. The repetition isn’t blatant due to the incorporation of different solos and key changes, but ultimately, the length of this song does it more of a disservice than a benefit.
All in all, the lack of cohesion between the tracks of Jackdaw left me disappointed. While the EP definitely illustrates the breadth of possibilities in sound that Peyote Ugly is able to successfully pull off, the songs seem to have little connection with one another. The lyrics often felt disjointed and like they weren’t written towards a cohesive theme, and while the instrumentalization shows real musicianship, it can be repetitive. Each second of a recording should add a solid concept to a piece of work, and, in this EP, there are segments that feel like the band simply recorded pieces of a jam session instead of putting forth intent.
Jackdaw does show the sheer talent of Preston, Moring, and Packard — there’s no denying that. But, the EP may have hit harder as a release of five singles as opposed to a packaged-together product.
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