The meteoric rise has become something of a music cliché, a regular occurrence in the age of social networks and viral campaigns, but that doesn’t make the last year of Jake Bugg’s life any less remarkable. Having released his self-titled debut in October 2012, he’s since swept Mercury and Brit nominations into a swag bag alongside a #1 album in the UK and a spot on the Billboard 200.
Its follow-up, ‘Shangri La’, is named after the Malibu studio in which it was recorded, alongside none other than superstar producer Rick Rubin. Bugg is now a big deal and seemingly edging further from the Clifton council estate upbringing that put meat on the bones of his debut’s folk-skiffle tales.
Rubin may loom large on the liner notes, but he shows a deft hand in bringing this slate of songs to life. If Bugg could come by 99 problems, over-production would not be one of them.
The album flits from ramshackle pop on There’s A Beast And We All Feed It, through alt-country on Slumville Sunrise and into plaintive, delicate balladeering on Me And You, and it does so in some style.
Bugg and his songwriting partners - Iain Archer and sometime Raconteur Brendan Benson - also deserve tremendous praise for turning around a record of this quality in such a short space of time, with his profile now suitably large to afford him the ‘privilege’ indulged by many stars - to release six singles from each album and draw them out for a few years.
There are flaws here, some of them pretty big ones, though. When the pace picks up the more nasal end of Bugg’s range takes over, noticeably damaging There’s A Beast… and What Doesn’t Kill You, which is the album’s most underwhelming, rote song by some distance.
At times the line into Britpop territory is crossed, with Cast’s John Power the main touchstone on A Song About Love and Kingpin a raspy vocal and distortion pedal away from being an Oasis track, but Bugg in fact wears this hat quite well. It’s not original, but it is pleasantly diverting.
‘Shangri La’ certainly has its moments. It’s maddeningly catchy and beautifully performed, but too often it loses focus and settles for retracing the steps of Bugg’s biggest influences.
Fri December 20 2013 - LONDON Eventim Apollo
Sun February 16 2014 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Newcastle City Hall
Thu February 20 2014 - NOTTINGHAM Capital FM Arena Nottingham
Fri February 21 2014 - LONDON Royal Albert Hall
Sat February 22 2014 - EDINBURGH Edinburgh Corn Exchange
Sun February 23 2014 - MANCHESTER HMV Ritz
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