Americana-Fusion Ensemble JACK O’ THE CLOCK to Release New Album PORTRAITS on February 13, 2025!

Americana-Fusion Ensemble JACK O’ THE CLOCK to Release New Album PORTRAITS on February 13, 2025!
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​Jack O’ the Clock just seem to go from strength to strength, one of the most original and compelling groups I know playing some amazing compositions that seem to tread effortlessly between Van Dyke Parks and folk music from an as yet unidentified culture, while making all the things you’ve always thought of as difficult sound as effortless and natural as breathing.” - FRED FRITH

PORTRAITS is “accessible, smart music” (Pascal Bouquillard, Clair et Obscur) by Jack O’ The Clock, “perhaps the foremost modern dark Americana outfit” (Mike Borella, Avant Music News). It is a re-imagining of an album founding members Emily Packard and Damon Waitkus recorded back in the summer of 2003. The album features the original rhythm and violin tracks, bringing new lyrics, vocals, and an array of other overdubs by present band members Kate McLoughlin and Victor Reynolds.

PORTRAITS presents a collection of bite-sized, slice-of-life, mostly first-person portraits of individuals ranging from childhood to old age, bound up in the quietly desperate particulars of their lives. Each voice forges a unique alloy of characteristics, from resistance to resignation, earnestness to irony, but with a consistent undercurrent of humor.

Musically, you might think of these as front porch songs: hooky, energetic, sunny-side-up, reflective, fun, a little casual. Pure play and pleasure. It’s a side of Jack O’ the Clock that has always been present but has never been so concentrated in a single album, and because of the strange decade-spanning way this album came together, could never quite happen again.
“Fronted by the lithe, troubadour vocals of Damon Waitkus and accompanied by lush vocal harmonies, old-timey strings, fingerpicked guitar and shape shifting rhythms, Jack O’ The Clock weave folksy Americana with a fusion 70s rock vibe — think Crosby, Stills & Nash and Pearls Before Swine supported by Weather Report’s rhythm section. Through his balladesque lyrics, Waitkus inhabits a range of characters, exploring the inner monologues and waking dreams of resentful armed white men, dissociated self-impersonators and nocturnal bureaucrats.” -EMILY POTHAST, THE WIRE

“…Through 10 years of recordings, Jack O’ The Clock is now established as a category unto themselves. The music often takes the form of complex, contrapuntal pieces with beautiful interplay between the hammer dulcimer, bassoon, violin, and guitar. The intertwined themes build and meander…On top of this are Waitkus’s poignant vocals, adding to the melancholic atmosphere.
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“Listening to Jack O’ The Clock invokes a twisted view of America post World War II – or perhaps projects that view to the rural blight of today. Lyrically, the group does not make a statement in particular. They offer no positions, polemics, nor solutions. Instead, their songs explore dark slices of life, unusual and disturbing happenings involving people both ordinary and strange” - MIKE BORELLA, AVANT MUSIC NEWS
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Jack O’ the Clock:
Damon Waitkus: vocals, guitars, hammer dulcimer, bass, flute, keyboards, etc.
Emily Packard: violin, viola
Kate McLoughlin: bassoon, vocals
Victor Reynolds: vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards, etc.
with:
Brad Mehlenbacher: drums
Roger Vaughan: bass
Portraits Tracklist:
1. Josephine’s Fresh Cuts
2. I’m OK, You’re a Shithead
3. No. 4 Mountain
4. Another Sunny Day/Star of Monster
5. Year of the Gypsy Moths
6. In the Gold Coin Saloon
7. My Life’s Not Wasted
8. Lazy Tom Bog
9. The Gardener
10. Nature Abhors a Vacuum
11. Puer 1
12. Twomile Island
13. Isolation Booth
14. Stone Cold Steve Cactus In Mojave
15. Windigo Knocking
16. It’s Hard To Find Booze On Sunday
17. Puer 2

For more information:
Website: https://jackotheclock.com/
Bandcamp: https://jackotheclock.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JackOTheClock/