It’s not too often we write about a band’s demo, but that’s what we did back in early August when we caught fresh wind of The Jacklights‘ rousing debut “Bad Memory.” In just over two minutes, the Boston pop-punk band captured the raw misery of this year we’ve all experienced, alone but together, acknowledging these shitty days but offering hope that hopefully soon all this will be behind us. It resonated.
Today (October 1), The Jacklights come through again with their debut self-titled EP, and it truly jumps out of the speakers with a spark and a push. Recorded, mixed, and mastered at Salem’s Galaxy Park Recording Studios, each of the five tracks have their own personality, and immediately cements The Jacklights’ hook-driven guitar-rock that calls back to the best of ’90s alt and ’00s pop-punk.
The EP is led by standout jam “Fall Apart,” a wistful tune about a failed relationship that wouldn’t sound out of place performed by the live band playing a college’s quad in a late-’90s teen movie, and lead single “Carolyn,” written about Jim Jones’ mistress Carolyn Moore Layton. “I’m interested in the psychology of how people can have their world view warped and radicalized, to the point of carrying out and justifying heinous acts,” says guitarist/vocalist Nilagia McCoy about “Carolyn.”
With this impressive debut EP comes The Jacklights’ debut live performance, and it goes down livestreamed from The Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain on October 13. They’ll be joined by surf band The Instamatics, and more info on the show can be found here.
In the meantime, swandive into The Jacklights’ debut EP below.