Willie Dowling and the lads of Jackdaw4 return with their highly anticipated sophomore release, 'Bipolar Diversions'. A power pop masterpiece that is 10cc's of Jellyfish Squeezed into a bottle of pure XTC. A beautifully crafted record and the attention to detail is faultless. It is sometimes way too smart for its own good. The songs are so strong and catchy that you can't fail to be seduced by the beauty of it all. A great example of driven songwriters who know what they're doing with an endless array of instruments and musicians at their disposal. 'Bipolar Diversion's biggest draw is the songwriting of Willie Dowling. It holds up above the obvious influences, and Dowling's vocals are a definite pleaser. While the arrangements and production is very rich it never loses its pop sensibility and nothing drags on longer than it should. It's been such a long time since I've heard an album of such high quality. From the moment you press play and "Sooma (All This Vision)" comes out your speakers and can't help but be drawn into musical bliss. Then you tracks like, the 10cc-ish "Frobisher's Last Stand" and the pop grooving title tracks that features some of the best harmonies recorded since Queen and Jellyfish. Every song can stand alone, yet ironically, not one song on the album should stand alone. The musical patchwork of sounds and lyrics weave a masterpiece that takes the power pop genre to a whole new level. My suggestion? Get your hands on this 'Bipolar Diversions'. Then after you've listened, and experienced it, go out and buy a copy for a friend. Jackdaw4 is not just a band, but a group of amazing storytellers. We should all feel lucky to have their work to listen to again and again and again and again and again. A carnival of sounds that contains the magic we all felt on Christmas morning as children as we opened our presents. Jackdaw4 is too great a band to be ignored. The bottom line is; this is truly a majestic power pop album. The power of the ideas, the production, the tightness, the varied arrangements, the instrumentation and the delivery never disappoints. If this record isn't considered a classic in 20 years then there's no hope for us. Don't deprive yourself of this recording, you'd be missing out on far, far too much. Jackdaw4 is "THE REAL THING", which is so rare in popular music these days. What an amazing band! What an amazing album! Put on your headphones and be blown away my friends!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
