The Sleepy Jackson - Personality

Integrating the dreamy vocal harmonies, illustrious arrangements and rhythmic guitars that marked the best rock and roll of the late 60’s and early 70’s, Australian group The Sleepy Jackson have shaped an album that nods knowingly to the retro while often managing to sound fresh and inspired. A song cycle of grand design, Personality, is long on ambition, intending to stand adjacent to the great albums of those eras gone by. While The Sleepy Jackson display an abundance of invention, their failure to show restraint in some instances keeps the album from realizing the fullness of its potential. “You Needed More” opens the project in epic fashion, with frontman Luke Steele’s gritty vocals cutting through swirling, ambient textures as the song slowly evolves, then explodes into full-blown rock. Several excellent tracks follow (hence one of the album’s greater flaws: the best tracks occur early, making Personality feel a bit frontloaded) including “God Lead Your Soul” with its Beach Boys-esque harmonies and brilliant backing horns and the immediate, steel-guitar driven “God Knows.” The second half of Personality does not exhibit the strength of the first as a couple of songs deviate from the retro-inspired sounds of earlier tracks and head into imitative territory. “Play a Little Bit for Love” borrows far too heavily from 70’s dance pop sounds while “You Won’t Bring People Down in My Town” and “Dream On” are a bit too lush for their own good. These tracks could have benefited from less production and more emphasis on their basic elements. Fortunately, the acoustic-driven “How Was I Supposed to Know” and the ironically blissful “Higher than Hell” are around to salvage the album’s final half. While meant to work as a whole, the album’s parts tend to be worth more than their sum. However, this should not deter listeners from experiencing this record. Several of the tracks Steele and Co. present reach sublime heights making Personality more than worth the effort the lesser songs take to absorb. With a bit more filtering and pacing the next time around, The Sleepy Jackson may able to achieve the greatness they so definitely appreciate. [www.thesleepyjackson.com]