Jonny Lang is an American blues, gospel and rock singer whose astonishing gifts saw him produce the platinum-selling ‘lie to me’ at the tender age of just fifteen. A youthful face at Eric Clapton’s now –legendary Crossroads festival (Lang appeared both in 2004 and 2010), Jonny Lang is one of those blues artists who never fails to impress and ‘signs’, Jonny’s seventh album since he burst onto the scene with the aptly-titled ‘smokin’’, sees Jonny on fiery form, eclipsing its predecessor (2013’s ‘fight for my soul’) with an energy that proves utterly irresistible.
Opening with the dusty stomp of ‘make it move’, Jonny sets the scene (at least for the first half of the album) with a raw blues that showcases just how much his voice has come on since his formative days. Still tuneful, but now with a handful of grit, he recalls Doyle Bramhall II as he lays down a track that seems to have been drawn, howling, from the plantations of the deep south. It’s an amazing album opener with its chain-gang beat and backing vocals, and if it doesn’t have you moving to the beat, there’s a good chance you’re clinically dead. Next, the percussive swing of ‘Snakes’ keeps the groove and builds up an irrepressible head of steam that incorporates soulful vocals and enough beautiful tube-driven distortion to keep your teeth rattling for a week. It feeds perfectly into the blistering roots rock of ‘Last man standing’, an energetic beast that sees Jonny dig into his collection of Cream LPs and come up with a ferocious riff that is all but buried under a snowstorm of saturated tones before giving away to some truly heroic soloing. Swampy and awash with southern heat, the album’s title track loses focus when layers of squelching organ are allowed to eclipse Jonny’s muscular guitar, the overall vibe reminiscent of Rival Sons, albeit shorn of that band’s diamond-sharp focus. Featuring a solo that stumbles wildly, before coalescing back into the main riff, ‘signs’ has a raw, in-the-studio vibe that seems some distance from the clean lines of ‘fight for my soul’ and is all the better for it. Things take a funkier turn on ‘What you’re made of’, a track that draws as much from Prince as it does from the Blues Brothers, and it has a sense of fun that can’t help but raise a grin. The first half of the record spins to its conclusion with the shimmering ‘bitter end’, a reverb-drenched track with an early U2 vibe and a huge… no HUGE, gospel-infused chorus that lights up like a thousand suns blazing in the sky at once.
After so strong a first half, ‘Stronger together’ comes as something of a surprise with its breezy, pop vibe and lightness of touch. It harks back to the days of Jamiroquai’s domination of the radio and it adds little to the album. Happily, the scratchy guitar intro that signals ‘into the light’ gets things back on track with a bright chorus, Jonny’s falsetto sitting comfortably amidst a soft bed of gospel-styled backing vocals and a stinging solo waiting just around the corner. Slowing the pace as the album draws towards its end, ‘bring me back home’ is a bare, piano-led ballad. It’s a poignant piece of music, with Jonny once again employing a falsetto, echoing Jeff Buckley, and delivering a torch song that is rich with emotion. Similarly slow-paced, ‘wisdom’ is built around a bare-board stomp and hot-wired guitar before the acoustic guitar intro of ‘singing songs’ once again harks back to Jeff Buckley (arguably via muse) with its aching heart pinned very much to its sleeve. It’s a surprising closer that comes complete with strings and sensitive guitar-work that stands in complete contrast to the blues roots of the album’s first half.
‘Signs’ seems to signal its intentions from the off with the opening salvo suggesting a fiery, guitar-driven record full of nervous riffs and rock energy. However, around the mid-point, Jonny pulls the rug out from under his listener’s feet and lays the ground for a far more adventurous effort than is first apparent. Not every experiment works, and ‘Stronger together’ stands out as a particularly unfortunate example of radio rock in excelsis, but, if given a choice, I’d rather hear an artist flex their creative muscles than remain on a comfortably familiar path. Where ‘Signs’ excels is where Jonny truly moves beyond his comfort zone, as he does on the ambitious ‘singing songs’, a heart-stopping work that ranks as one of the most devastatingly heart-felt pieces of music of Jonny’s career. With a ferocious first half that stands up there with the best work Jonny has ever produced and an eclectic second half that shows a continued desire for growth, ‘signs’ is a mostly excellent work that highlights both Jonny’s talent and his diversity. 8
