Artist:     Jack Grace

Album:     Everything I Say is a Lie

Label:     Radia Records

Release Date:     04/28/2017

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With a little help from his friends, Jack Grace creates new rock and folk-based disc Everything I Say is a Lie. Collaborators include Norah Jones and Lee Falco, arriving smoothly with their vocal prowess. Their honey sounds mix with Grace’s own rough vocal chords, creating a sound somewhere in the blend between early 2000s acoustic rock and a country/folk songwriters in the round.

First track “Burned By the Moonlight” kicks off with some Jack Johnson guitar vibes before Grace’s raw voice tears in with a certain revealing sadness. The second track, “Kanye West (I Hear That You’re the Best)” involves some serious celebrity shoutouts, but not in a good way. “Kanye West, I hear that you’re the best. I don’t want to hear anymore about it. No no no, no no no,” he begins, before continuing to derail a variety of famous singers and celebrities. Taylor Swift, the Kardashians, Lindsay Lohan, Beyonce, Paris Hilton, Simon Cowell, and Kid Rock also make the lineup.

Harmonica and heavier guitar riffs start off “Run to Me” with a darker, deeper feeling. This catchy track then leads into “Being Poor,” a relatable song about barely getting by as a musician and the struggle with a capitalist society. “Gotta find money, ‘cause I’m scared of being poor,” Grace sings. “Don’t want to end up like them, they can’t afford all of the things that you do to keep from being poor, is it worth it? Because we always need more.”

Norah Jones then joins in, at first subtly and then going full speed, for the repetitive yet driving chorus of “Bad Wind Blowing.” She also makes a vocal appearance on Track 7, “Everything I Say is a Lie,” a self-deprecating song about love with a breezy, whimsical pace. “I’m a god, got a great body, it won’t be easy to find somebody better, such a savage shredder. I can’t keep up with all the love that the ladies need in the neighborhood…Everything I say is a lie.” The disc then ends with “So We Run,” which begins with some beautiful acoustic guitar work, transcends into more beautiful stringed instruments, and then winds down in an unusual intricate display of hopeful melancholy.

— Kayln Oyer