It’s been four years since the Raleigh-based Roots Rock band Jack The Radio last put out a record and the time between has clearly done little to dull the band’s writing. With three of the songs on their new LP Under Lonely Light familiar to fans of the band who have been following them closely (a trio of the songs were released on streaming services last year), the album shows an impressive evolution in both style and substance.
The band is still heavily rooted in rock, but dips into folk, Americana and blues throughout the LP. The opening track, “Save Me From Myself,” incorporating synth and clean electric guitar for an impressive result, is part Springsteen, part BoDeans, and progresses into a full-throated singalong, setting the bar high for the rest of the record. The band mostly lives up to that opening salvo on the rest of the album. “Tell Everyone Around” is a slow-burn blues-soaked three minutes that perfectly shows off George Hage’s impressive vocals. The other two Blues-influenced tracks here are “Take The Wheel” – one of the weaker moments here – and “Take Your Ball And Go Home,” one of the strongest tracks and a song that highlights the band’s musical range. “Evergreens” and “Fast Fun” (the latter released last year) by comparison, are mellower and more rooted in pop, for a sound the band has flirted with on past records but fully commits here with impressive results.
Elsewhere, “Warbirds,” is a decent enough song but not nearly as compelling as the tracks around it, like the “Earth’s Last Goodnight,” lyrically one of the band’s best numbers. The album closes with “Roads Paved In Gold,” another track that was released online in 2023. Sounding like ‘80s era R.E.M., the guitar-heavy song is loaded with urgency, making for the most compelling moment on an already solid record.
Jack The Radio’s ability to seamlessly slip in and out of musical genres on Under Lonely Light makes for a much more captivating album and is why the band has an almost chameleon-like ability to appeal to a wide swath of fans. It’s not surprising then that in their nearly two decades together, the band has played with a slew of groups across different genres, including fellow North Carolinians like The Avett Brothers and American Aquarium, as well as bands like The Cold War Kids, Robert Randolph, and the Family Band, and George Thorogood.
