Kings & Queens
Glossier than Jamie T\'s debut, *Kings & Queens* is no less incisive about modern Britain. There are bad nights out (“Sticks and Stones”), illicit affairs (“Spider\'s Web”), and prescient condemnations of the surveillance state (“British Intelligence”) wedded to Treays\' usual hotchpotch of music influences. “368” uses a milk bottle as percussion, and gives way to strange sampled vocals and chanting. “Emily\'s Heart” is a lilting murder ballad, while “Chaka Demus” and “Earth, Wind & Fire” nod to soul. *Kings & Queens* had a difficult gestation, but you wouldn\'t know it from this cocksure collection.
When [a]Jamie T[/a] surfed the initial wave of hype on his washboard, it just seemed like Virgin had dropped a syringe on Camden and signed up whichever posho troubadour dabbling in ragamuffin chic it stuck in.
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Two and a half years after his debut, ‘Panic Prevention’, and neatly side stepping an attempted folk direction, Jamie Treays returns asking "Difficult second what?".
I’m sorry, I know England loves this guy, but something about him rings false.
Jamie Treays's Mercury-nominated debut, Panic Prevention, would have been a near-masterpiece of urban storytelling if he hadn't rapped/sung most of it in an aggrieved whine that brought to mind a 15-year-old refusing to take his feet off the bus seat.