Album of the Week: Jack Peñate’s everything-new sound

I just bought tickets to see Miike Snow and Jack Peñate play in Toronto next month, and after reviewing the excellent Miike Snow debut record last week, I thought I’d give Peñate a full go-round this week. This is Peñate’s second album following the lukewarmly received Matinee, and the UK singer/songwriter has definitely placed more chips into the middle of the table on Everything Is New. That was evident on first single, and song-of-the-year candidate “Tonight’s Today,” a track that marked Peñate’s play more for the dancefloor as opposed to the barroom. The entire album has been given a polished sheen by in-demand British producer Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Florence and the Machine, Friendly Fires), but he can’t rescue the whole record. After a strong start (“Today,” “Everything Is New,” and current UK single “Pull My Heart Away,” which can be heard on my latest JeffMix podcast), the album regresses into a collection of over-baked tracks that just don’t have enough weight. Give this round to Miike Snow... B-

Jack Peñate: Tonight’s Today (from Insound)
from the album Everything Is New
MP3 • • MYSPACE • OFFICIAL SITE

And for more new sounds, make sure to subscribe to my latest podcast, JeffMix2009.08.22 (also on iTunes), featuring music from Simian Mobile Disco, Arctic Monkeys, Bibio, Miike Snow, The Dodos, Speech Debelle, and Delorean, among others.