Reviewed by: HW Bones

Published: 23 June 2011

lp: stories for the soul

Receiving the mail and unwrapping Jay Hoad's latest release ‘Stories for the Soul’ from the postal box was a mighty exciting treat after a long slog in the office.

The artwork for this album has to be one of the best I’ve seen this year by quite a way. It features some great renditions of Australian life all themed in the earthy colours favoured by this branch of roots music.

Popping the record into the mobile cosmic destruction player (e.g. car stereo) I was mighty surprised and pleased by what I heard. Initially maybe somewhat stereotypically I was expecting something straight from the John Butler school of roots but Jay Hoad really makes this genre his own. I was debating where to file this in my collection and have had to make a new category entirely I think I’ll call it ‘gruroomel’ it may not catch on but the music sure will. You can pick up a lot of the normal roots influence in this collection of songs but at times there is an almost grunge/metal tinge which gives ‘Stories for the Soul’ a much greater depth.

Jay is an amazingly talented musician playing, from what I can tell, at least 15 different instruments (I’m presuming not simultaneously but who knows) and seems to be superiorly proficient in everything he picks up.

Lyrically again Jay is a very proficient songwriter, touching on many subjects with a light hand and an honest heart. Unfortunately though to get this I had to hop onto the website and read the lyrics to these very well structured songs. This would be one thing I picked up out of the superb production is that Jay’s voice sits very low in the mix for my liking, again just a personal opinion but food for thought.

Overall this a great release and it makes it quite easy to see why Jay is such a popular live performer as this energy spills over in abundance on ‘Stories for the Soul’. Great stuff!