JARED JAMES NICHOLS is an American Blues/Rock act from Waukesha, Wisconsin fronted by Jared James Nichols (obviously); who's more famous for his guitar skills than vocals. He is (or they are) signed to the smartly named Listenable Records and have released 4 EPs and 2 LPs since 2012 - the start of his career. In case you haven't noticed yet, today I'll be giving you my thoughts on "Black Magic", his most recent work.

Honestly, I was expecting something really neat when I first read about the guy. Granted I don't usually get stuff like this to review, but the opening track, "Last Chance" raised my expectations even higher. It does a great job at capturing that - even though a bit cliché - sheer fucking cool feeling; especially with the singing. I find Jared's vocals here surprisingly charismatic and enjoyable. To tell the truth, I was expecting vocals for the sake of having vocals, but it all turned out to be a nice addition to the record's sound in the end. But even though it has a really strong head start, only about half of it is actually decent - "Last Chance", "Honey Forgive Me", "Got To Have You" and "What Love" specifically. I have listed them just to let you know which songs not to skip. You're welcome.

The rest of the tracks range from tolerable, to painfully repetitive and BORING. The magic 4 however are fun and quick-and-easy songs; not creative masterpieces, but fairly enjoyable. So overall, we have an album that's 60% OK or garbage, and 40% nice. Do I recommend it? Maybe. If you're looking for some Bluesy background music for doing the dishes or whatever, sure, but if you're looking for something actually compelling and interesting, you could do a shit ton better.