Boston rocker Jake Rollins first came to our attention on the second volume of 80N7’s super cool compilations. The label are obviously big fans because they have just put out Spend a Few, Make a Few, Rollins’s new album, which is stocked full of catchy lo-fi indie rock, guaranteed to get your feet tapping and head nodding and generally make your day that little bit brighter. You see, Rollins one of our favourite kinds of musician, that is, the kind who makes music because it’s lots and lots of fun, which to me is as good a reason as any to do just about anything. I know this because it is clearly apparent in his songs, you can just tell they were made by a man doing his own thing and enjoying himself.
But trying to cut it as a young indie musician (even one as cool as Rollins) is no walk in the park. Lots of the songs on the album touch upon themes of self-doubt and that general creeping feeling that maybe there is something better you should be doing with your time (an emotion not unfamiliar with small-time music bloggers, trust me). See for example the opening track, ‘Maybe I’m Wasting My Time’, in which he sings, “Trying to make it sound cool, playing the drum out of tune / Why is music so fun? Maybe because I’m so young / Or maybe I’m wasting my time”, and again on ‘Rattle & Hiss’ which includes the line, ‘Do you know how much time I’ve wasted thinking about all the time I’ve wasted?” These emotions are most clearly expressed on ‘All the Good Things’, which slows things down to a slinking swagger as Rollins sings, “I don’t know why I’m sad, all the good things are bad”.
What’s really good about the album is that despite expressing these anxieties, Rollins produces 11 tracks that are lots of fun to listen to and are more likely to cause positive thoughts to come bubbling to the surface. Inadvertently or otherwise, he seems to solve all of his worries as he sings about them. What’s better than carefree rock and roll when you need to see the good in things. The fact is, Rollins hasn’t been wasting his time at all, and all the proof is right here. Try listening as the composed verses veer into a screechy instrumental chorus on ‘Your Voice’, or to the sinuous guitars that open ‘Out of Tune’, and try telling me this isn’t pretty great.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/183214147″]
On top of everything else, his timing is impeccable. Spring is finally starting to commence, meaning summer is just around the corner, meaning there will soon be no shortage of warm sunny evenings to drive around with your windows down and forget about the bad things for a while. If you know what’s good for you, your stereo will be blaring Jake Rollins as you go.
You can get Spend a Few, Make a Few via the 80N7 Bandcamp page and can be downloaded for however much you’d like to give. This includes absolutely nothing at all, but for pete’s sake try to spare a few pounds/dollars/magic beans, Jake deserves it.