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The Jacques

The Jacques release new single 'Holy Mamacita'

The Jacques have unveiled their reflective new single ‘Holy Mamacita’, taken from their forthcoming debut album The Four Five Three, out November 6th via Modern Sky.

A delicate and dreamy love song with a twist, ‘Holy Mamacita’ paints a vivid pop-inspired picture of what it’s like to let somebody down. Hypnotic synths and laid-back guitars gently wash over one another in absolute tranquillity, adorned with singer Finn O’Brien’s tender and contemplative vocals as they trigger gentle, emotive ripples in the waves.

‘Holy Mamacita’ is featured on The Jacques upcoming debut album The Four Five Three; a record of remarkable songs hewn from a range of tragically ragged, sweet and tender adolescent experiences you can’t quite believe have been crammed into such a slight number of collective years.

The Jacques are Finn O’Brien (voice, guitar), Elliot O’Brien (drums), Harry Thomas (keyboards) and James Lay (bass), although it hasn’t always been this way. Past members include Jake and Oliver Edwards, Clint Trembath and Gabriel Ciechan, but the death of long-term bass player Will J Hicks in March 2019 hit them hard.

Relations amongst the previous line-ups had already soured when Finn met Will whilst studying Art at Goldsmiths College in 2016. Initially, Finn and Will didn’t hit it off, but a blossoming close friendship ensued and, together with the addition of Harry on keyboards, a new fuller, less-guitar centric sound emerged. James had already started rehearsing with the four-piece when tragedy struck.

“It was hard,” says Finn now. “We played so many songs with Will that meant such a lot. But we decided to carry on.”

James subsequently joined on a permanent basis and The Jacques resumed professional duties as best they could, releasing a series of singles throughout 2019 including the fuzzy post-punk of ‘Kiss The Pharaoh’, which features on The Four Five Three. The song hums and clatters like early-Horrors, yet delivers piercing offhand lyricism which Finn describes as having a, “anarchistic and a creepy, nursery rhyme thing going on.”

It’s a track that has propelled them to receive strong support from BBC 6Music with Huw Stephens, Steve Lamacq, Don Letts and Huey Morgan all big fans of the band at the station.

The Four Five Three also features the recently released single ‘Do Me For A Fool’, a romantic and hazy ballad which proved a radio hit with support from Huw Stephens at Radio 1, BBC 6Music with Chris Hawkins and also featured as John Kennedy’s ‘Xposure Hot One’ on Radio X.

There’s a treasure trove of exemplary pop fests too in the form of songs like ‘Cradle My Heart’ – about each of us having our own versions of God – and ‘The Ugliest Look’; a bold and fuzzy attack on pretentious social circles.

However it’s perhaps ‘Hendrik’ and ‘Taste The Mexican Sun’ that showcase The Jacques at their most sentimental and their most playful. ‘Hendrik’ is the oldest track on the album and was renamed to celebrate one of Finn’s closest friends who had always loved the song before he passed away; and ‘Taste The Mexican Sun’ takes its title from a seemingly-meaningless caption Finn and Will noticed on a plastic cup whilst hanging out at a music festival.

Remarkable enough in themselves, they segue effortlessly into the album’s closer, ‘God’s Lick’, a song that evokes bittersweet memories of endless jamming sessions when Will was in the band. It’s a beautifully poignant way to finish this emotional rollercoaster of a record.

THE FOUR FIVE THREE TRACK LISTING

  1. Born Sore
  2. Kiss The Pharaoh
  3. Swift Martin
  4. Do Me For A Fool
  5. The Ugliest Look
  6. Count On Me Pt.1
  7. Tiny Fuzzy Parasite
  8. Cradle My Heart
  9. Count On Me Pt.2
  10. Holy Mamacita
  11. Hendrik
  12. Taste The Mexican Sun
  13. God’s Lick
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