Eyebrows were raised when Jack Steadman initially stepped out as Mr. Jukes in 2017 with the gospel-flavoured record God First, before then he was best known as the mainstay in Bombay Bicycle Club.
It simply was not the done thing, you know, for indie darlings to dabble in non-indie things. Sure, the new disbanded Maccabees have spread their wings to modest reviews and more than modest bank. Hell, even Paul Smith of (thee still pretty decent) Maximo Park was on Ninja Tune’s criminally underrated Cougar records.
But being known for wistful, yet danceable indie was no longer cutting it for the extremely talented Steadman and he was further drawn to sampling and production. Elements that were appearing more frequently on the BBC’s (not that one) later output.
On ‘The Locket’, Steadman hooks up with East London rapper Barney Artist and the pair have created a project which allows each of their (multiple)personalities to touch upon whatever genre they damn well please.
That’s why you’ve downtempo hip-hop cozying up to R&B, and these nuggets leave some stardust on genuine dance-floor bangers, and the whole thing can collapse into sultry slow-jams at the drop of a hi-hat.
But classy beats and fancy production ain’t shizzle without flow. Handy, then, that Barney brings that in spades. On ‘Poems’ he raps: “Cheesy I know / If you knew the way my mind froze / I ain’t even trying to glamourise this ting / But you understand why I hide poems”.
At times, you can hear Jurassic 5, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest and Soul 2 Soul, shuffling in the background waiting for a nod of recognition.
The results are as varied as they are concise, there’s not one track that outstays its welcome. In fact, there are a few that you would not mind sticking around a bit longer.
On Vibrate, the record’s most obvious single, Jukes and Artist can barely contain the joy and if a smile refuses to spread across your face, then, we wonder what will prompt the frown to turn upside down.
The heart-melting, ‘Autumn Leaves’, and the gospel-tinged penultimate track, ‘Leave Us In Light’, also provide an ample amount of soul into the album.
On All For You, Steadman is on more familiar ground, harps strings are plucked as the hopeless romantic offers a lovelorn letter of love to his true love...except with far fewer uses of the L-word.
Take our word for it and get in there early, casually drops this on the bluetooth speakers next time you’ve some pals over and wait for them to ask you ‘who that is’
Mr Jukes & Barney Artist’s The Locket is out now on Locket Records.
