Former Hefner member and multi-instrumentalist, Jack Hayter delights on this collection of charmingly askew songs. “I’ve got teeth like tombstones, skin like clay, it could be the Scurvy anyway” he sings on opener ‘I Stole The Cutty Sark’, and from then on in the Sucky Tart EP will have you chuckling one minute and breaking your heart the next. On sophomore track, ‘A Doll’s House’, Hayter pitches himself somewhere between Robert Wyatt and Ivor Cutler singing, “He’s got her head in his lap, but her body is in the corner of another room, it’s not what it seems”, by the time the muted horns swell and Hayter’s cracked vocals ascend with the line, “…and all the dreams of holidays and babies, turn into misery and maybes, it’s a doll’s house”, you know it’s special, it’s smart, funny and most importantly extremely touching.
Generally painting himself as the sad clown the emphasis on the second half of the EP – A Simple Song’ and ‘Jacquie I Won’t Mind’ – is definitely placed on the sad, with the former downbeat and gentle, “I’ve got the last lips that you’ll want to kiss” sings Hayter, not likely a reference to the Scurvey again. The latter a tale of falling for the wrong girl, a love unattainable, where our protagonist has to admit defeat to circumstance but takes consolation as he sings, “though we can’t have what we want, I will settle for your mind”.
The songs on Sucky Tart work together beautifully and as stand-alone each one is bona-fide great. Some may call it folk, alt-folk, anti-folk, folk-off would be more apt, songs as good as these don’t need to be restricted by genre or specific audiences, they just are, brilliant, fact. There’s not a weak moment here which can only set the impetus for a long-player, please Mr Hayter, please, please, break your heart some more for us, you loveable, fantastic, exquisite balladeer.
- Monoganon - 28 October 2013
- Randan Discotheque - 1 February 2013
- The Voluntary Butler Scheme - 4 August 2011