Jack Savoretti: Soulful strummer
Jack Savoretti's first single, Without, is out now
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Tuesday, 24, Oct 2006 03:41
Who's Next? As a certain legendary band once asked. We seek to delve into the music industry and come up with a bountiful collection of stars to be. Or is that just wannabes?
This week it's the turn of the next in a seemingly long line of male singer-songwriters, Jack Savoretti.
It might seem as though there is not enough room for another guitar-strumming soulful singer-songwriter in the music scene but those who bypass newcomer Jack Savoretti for that reason may end up regretting it.
A brief description of his debut album, Between the Minds, could suggest that Savoretti is simply joining the Jack Johnson/James Blunt/James Morrison bandwagon, but his romantic, gravely voice strikes a new chord in the genre that he is entering.
At just 22 years old, Savoretti's voice belies little of his young age, and his skill with the guitar would impress anyone when finding out that he began playing just six years before.
Writing has permeated Savoretti's life for many years; poetry preoccupied him during his teenage years. "I was writing all the time, it was the thing to do, sit under a tree with a notebook, go somewhere else in your head. I was in the clouds," he says. And once he applied this process to music, the result was addictive.
"I was surprised how much more people listen to you when you are singing than if you read a poem," he confessed. "After that, I couldn't stop, it was constant writing, every day, it became almost a form of conversation, the way I interact with the world."
So what is the outcome like of all the years of constant writing? Well, it's pretty good. Savoretti himself says that each song should be a "whole movie with an incredibly complicated twist that leaves you thinking for days". Although not every song on the album may leave you thinking like that, gradually the songs weave themselves into your mind until a few days later you're humming along before you even realise you're doing it.
Although undoubtedly possessing his own distinct style, Between the Minds is traced with echoes of artists stretching from decades ago to the current day. The track Once Upon a Street is reminiscent of Bob Dylan's How Many Roads, while Chemical Courage hints at the emotive, yearning lyrics of Damien Rice. For fans of easy listening, no doubt Savoretti's debut album will prove as addictive as the musical process is for the singer himself.
His first single, Without, is out now. Between the Minds is released in January 2007.
Carolyn Robertson