Stickman Jones shouldn't need an introduction. This band should have been signed and had several mainstream radio hits a long time ago.
On their latest independent CD, New York City's Stickman Jones goes for a pop sound reminiscent of Sixpence None the Richer and Over the Rhine, with a romantic lyrical approach reminiscent of C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald. The first verse of "Cooler" might remind one of Aslan from Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia:
It was a gentler tide
That moved me subtly
Toward the ground where I now stand
It was a tamer beast
That bowed its head
To the stroking of my hand.
"Heaven" even reads like the "further up and further in" scene from The Last Battle:
We are running down the hill
We can see it in the distance
We are under the pull of its spell
We are drawn by its constant insistence.
Songwriting such as this reflects a deep and intimate faith unparalleled in most Christian music--and even in most worship music.
Relationships are also a recurring theme on Luxuria. "Gravity" provides some darker moments with its tale of two people whose expectations get out of hand, and "Like I Do" reminisces about the halcyon days of a relationship. If things seem a little too somber, "Smile" is a more uplifting song about friendship.
The lyrics are bolstered by pop arrangements with little surprises--glockenspiel, kazoo, and pennywhistle, to name a few of the offbeat instruments that show up every now and then. Luxuria as a whole is the same way. Heard in passing, one might think a typical pop album is playing. A closer listening, however, reveals all kinds of artful details.
4 tocks
Other coverage for this album
Bandoppler 2000Reviewed by Earl CampbellYou might want to skip the grating psychedelic funk first track—unless that's your thing of course—but stay enthusiastically tuned in for the rest of Stickman Jones' Luxuria, an album pudding thick in sonic character and rootsy playfulness. Annie Quick has a masterful grasp of the Greenwich rock vibe, and cleaves her flirty Jill Sobule pout skillfully to ethereal, emotive vocals. Riding atop a…The Phantom Tollbooth 2000Reviewed by Michial FarmerFrom the wah-wah'd opening notes of "You Will," Luxuria makes it evident that Stickman Jones is not the same band that made last year's brilliant folk-pop album Blinding Bright. Oh, the personnel is still the same--vocalist Annie Quick, guitarist David Sachs, accordion player Rob Curto, drummer Ethan Hartshorn, and bassist Jad Mintum. But the five of them have, together, sharpened their pop…
