`Iknowyouknowiknow` is a six-track extended play which is a companion piece to Jamie Lehman`s last album `The Atheist`. The songs were pieces that either didn`t flow with the last release or that have been around for some time. Jamie was previously the frontman for post hardcore band Reuben, who shone brightly from 1998 for a decade.
The opening number `Words Of Love` is a fairly expansive listen which has piano keys, guitars, pounding drums and a throbbing bass line with powerfully potent vocals splayed atop. The song at times feels as if it`s about to explode but manages to restrain itself and becomes pretty anthemic. The artist has shared that “Thematically it’s about somebody’s reaction to a past infidelity, their inability to get over it or even recognise their own culpability.” I understand that Jamie is a good friend of Frank Turner and `Crazy Horse` is a track that wouldn`t be out of place in a Turner setlist. It has that enthralling `get on board` social discourse about it, wonderful stuff.
`Run Right Home` is a thoughtful stripped back composition with strummed guitar and vocal before harmonies join and fill it out slightly. It felt as if we were party to a home recording of this number which added to its appeal. There`s a kind of exasperation to the vocal and probably the whole feel to `The Last Supper` which has a thumping percussive beat as if to emphasise the frustration shared in this submission.
`I Done Things I Aint Proud Of` has an almost Americana come country tint about it. The lyrics are kind of confessional in their straightforward honesty. A piece that maybe is cathartic at heart. A reworking of `This Town will Never Let Us Go` from `The Atheist` album leads us out. It retains the intensity of the original as it`s shared with just vocal and guitar in this acoustic setting.
There was much to enjoy on this release that runs at around the twenty-minute mark and comes as the singer-songwriter and musician takes to the road for a number of dates this month.
A good opportunity to hear some of these numbers in a live setting, hopefully.
Rating 8.5 / 10
REVIEW: JAMIE LENMAN – IKNOWYOUKNOWIKNOW EP (2023)
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