We quite liked Postcards From Jeff’s EP last year; we thought they were American but now discover they’re from Manchester (so know “quite liked” means “really liked”).
This full-length collection of tunes sees us part happy and part a little disappointed: they create dreamy indie rock/pop and do it well but they don’t wander much from their core sound. It’s nice rather than great and its eternal dreaminess means there’s not much to hang onto.
The steady rhythm section is a little reminiscent of fellow Mancunians New Order but the overall sound is of lush pop, somewhere between The National and heart-on-their-sleeve romantics Longview.
We compared this to the indie pop albums we’ve had over recent years and it was somewhere in the middle. (The comparisons were all a bit obscure, like Portugal The Man). All you need to know is: middling.
Postcards From Jeff is one person, Joss Worthington, who appears to have written and played the whole album, which is impressive. It’s not got the feel of someone who’s afraid to cut out the fat; there’s not a lot of self-indulgence, which is also good.
He’s not got the best singing voice in the world but the music plays to his strengths, in that it’s pretty gentle and melodic. He also does that J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr) thing of sounding as if he lost interest half way through a line, which is appealing, at least occasionally.
It’s slightly psychedelic pop. It’s not going to knock you out but we’ve played it over and over and not tired of it either.