By: Gaz Cloud
Andy Jackson | facebook |
Andy Jackson’s studio credentials are mightily impressive. He’s engineered every Pink Floyd album since The Final Cut and also produced Fields Of The Nephilim. Now, Jackson’s stepping out from behind the curtain, having taken a producer’s role on The Endless River, the unexpected Pink Floyd album that arrived like manna from heaven a couple of months ago. Synchronistically, the release of this landmark album coincided with Jackson’s own solo effort, Signal To Noise.
Signal To Noise opens with the foreboding ‘The Boy In The Forest’, the strongest song on a record that’s full of strident, assured song writing. The similarity to his compadre Dave Gilmour is hard to ignore, both in compositional style and vocal timbre. It’s worth noting that this track pisses all over ‘Louder Than Words’, the only conventional “song” on The Endless River, and as such the only point of comparison between the two records. The verse/chorus structure of ‘Louder Than Words’ feels like an excuse for the guitar work that follows. With lyrics detailing restrained liberty, it’s fitting that ‘The Boy In The Forest’ never quite breaks free and soars – a guest solo from Dave could have sent this song into the stratosphere, but instead it keeps its feet on the forest floor throughout its 7 minutes, which fly by.
Elsewhere, Signal To Noise is comprised of mature, subdued rock, underpinned with powerful guitar playing and technicolour sonics. ‘Invisible Colours’ smoke-and-mirrors use of tricksy production techniques again recalls his former paymasters. Centrepiece ‘Herman At The Fountain’ has the rousing coda Jackson has denied his other efforts. ‘Brownian Motion’’s blues driven guitar and phased vocals suggest wading through mud more than they imply the chaotic movement of the tune’s title.
Noise is technically the degradation of an otherwise clean transmission. By this definition, there’s a lot more signal than noise present on this accomplished album. The result is far from sterile, though, thanks to controlled injections of dirt that lend the album an aura of suspense. On the strength of Signal To Noise, Jackson’s days as a member of rock’s supporting cast are over – he deserves his time in the limelight.
