Six months on from his highly anticipated third album, 'Carry On The Grudge', and after few cobwebs settling; Jamie Treays has released a new EP. If anything was apparent about his third album it was that Treays has become a frustrated man, who's firmly stuck in corner of every room he sets foot in.
'Magnolia Melancholia' does exactly what it says; emitting the light and dark of a growingly complex personality. Take 'Don't You Find', which is brooding on the surface and marked a new chapter for Jamie's song-writing. It's approximately three minutes in though that this chapter comes to life. He spits almost inaudible abuse over elegant strings. It's these spouts of frantic episodes that cling on to the Jamie T of 2009.
Similar can be said in, 'Marilyn Monroe', the most upbeat on the EP and a track which could've walked its way onto 'Carry On The Grudge'. His wittering towards the end is poetic verbal diarrhoea which is reminiscent of the breakdown 'Rabbit Hole'.
Amongst the other tracks, covers, 'Mama Don't Smoke' and 'Bastards Of Young', add little other than peeling back a few extra layers. 'Magnolia Melancholia' on the other hand is a lethargic heartbreak ballad that turns on itself with woozy cries of, "I guess I just miss my friend." Other track, 'Riverbed', is an Albarn-esque self-reflection which chugs along woefully to lyrics, "so if this river carries evil away, why do I shiver at mistakes I made?".
If this EP does anything it shows that any glimpse of blossoming magnolia in Jamie's life is quickly stunted by the release of pent up agitation. It's time someone took the weight off his shoulders that is long past its five year sell by date.
Jamie T - Magnolia Melancholia
Out of 10: 7/10
By Josh Shreeve (@JJShreeve)
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