Confession time I had never heard of Jacob Alon until this album came across my metaphorical desk. Not a real one, I don’t want anyone imagining that I’m professional. Secondary confession, I am a massive sucker for folk lead music with lyrics that make you want to cry like a small child who’s dropped their ice cream. With that in mind In Limerance, the debut album from Scottish born Jacob is exactly the kind of album that would instantly draw my attention. It has a quiet sort of melancholia to it that draws from it’s use of acoustic guitar and haunting vocals.
Jacob has a beautiful way of twisting words and melody together into an experience you feel in your soul. This has the feeling of an album by a much more experienced artist not just musically but in the way the album is pieced together to take you on a journey. It has an emotional heart to it that is unexpected from not just an artist so young but also so early into their career. Whether it is the soft and haunting Sertraline or the slightly more musically upbeat I Couldn’t Feed Her; the lyrics are consistently raw and are a honest sucker punch to the heart.
This is an album that comes out of the door asking you to listen, to hear the complete truth of a person and does not let up. There are points in this album that truly feel like witnessing someone tear their own heart out in front of you and then allowing you to see all the parts of themselves that they would normally hide from the world and that is both beautiful and terrifying.
If this is what Jacob has for us on their debut album I am both excited and terrified to see the art that they make going forward.
8/10
In Limerance is out on May 30th via Island Records.
