Michelle Coupland

Jacob remains a frustrating enigma to me. There can be no doubting his gifts, and he’s capable of great creativity and superb musicianship, but much of his output borders on the unlistenable to me. Perhaps he gets so much fawning praise from the uncritical millions who regard him as the new Mozart that he’s lost his self-critical faculties. There are 16 songs on this album, 11 of which are collaborations with other artists, including such luminaries as John Mayer, Michael MacDonald, John Legend, Stormzy, and Chris Martin. After several listens there are maybe 5 that I feel drawn to play again. The opening track 100,000 voices is truly hideous, as is the massively over-harmonised version of Bridge over Troubled Water. Tori Kelly and John Legend are both singers of the highest class, and this is one of the great songs, but the arrangement just destroys it. In the positive column are Little Blue, Witness Me, Never Gonna Be Alone (mainly thanks to a classy contribution on guitar from John Mayer,) Summer Rain, and I quite like She Put Sunshine. Otherwise it’s not for me, I’m afraid. If Jacob can find a way to filter his prodigious stream of ideas through an effective quality control mechanism, then maybe he will finally reach his undeniably stellar potential. Miles Davis’s once said ‘I listen to what they don’t play.’ Wise words.