Jack Garratt - Phase

I have been putting off this post for a while now because I was determined to listen as much as I could to the album to at least get a ranking of what I thought of the songs. I was having a really hard time choosing my favourites. So I've managed to choose the three songs that, for me, blow the others out of the water.

I'm going to be honest... I really couldn't understand the hype for Jack Garratt when he first came on the scene. I mean I totally understood how talented he was playing every instrument that he could get his hands on but other than that I just didn't get it.

Fast forward to a couple of months down the line when I hear him on BBC Radio One. I ended up thinking to myself ooo I actually really like this song... I wonder who this is... then when good old Greg James went "and that was Jack Garratt's new single from his debut album Phase" I thought I better give this guy a chance...

So when his album came out on February 19th I took a plunge and bought it, the deluxe one so this was quite and investment... Jeeze there was nothing to worry about. I think I can safely say its one of the best album's I have bought to date. In my opinion, I don't think there is a skip song on it and lets be honest, most albums have one.

Lets go through my top three...

Track 5 - Worry
I think this is the song he first released from his album. I mean even Mr James Bay is telling his followers to buy it, big support there.
Its got a mellow tone about it but when it gets to the chorus all those beautiful Jack Garratt sounds come out to play. His gorgeous rough voice, guitar, electrics, bass... it's all there in the chorus of this song.
Easily one of my most played songs at the moment.

Track 7 - I Know All What I Do
This is just a beautiful track. Its one of the songs that you turn on when you get back from work and just relax too, forget all your worries and turn off to the world. I feel like I should say more, but I think it'd be best for you just to find this on iTunes and give your ears some love.

Track 12 - My House Is Your Home
Another favourite of mine for its unashamedly raw vocals and minimalist track backing. It gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it. I would go ahead and say this is my favourite track on the album. The piano and the background sounds you can hear just add to the feeling of exclusivity to the song. It feels like he is in the room singing it to a small crowd. Just beautiful. I'm actually listening to it as I type this on the coach and I want to scream to everyone how the vocals make me melt. Weird, I know... Its finished now... moving on...

I feel like another track needs a mention but I didn't want to include it in my top 3 as its only on the deluxe version of the album (so all the more reason to buy that one), Lonesome Valley. I love the way it builds into this vocal awesomeness with some many layers of instruments and sounds. It makes me excited for the bass drops... and that is something I never thought I would say.

The whole album is 100% worth buying it and I can guarantee that if you're as much into your music as I am you'll get way too excited about it all. If you end up loving him as much as I do he has just announced his tour so make sure you get your tickets to that! Its going to be awesome. I have mine for Plymouth!

Book Review: Not That Kind Of Girl

I haven't raved about a book as much as I have about this one for a VERY long time. I have basically started a library and have five people FIVE in line to read my copy because I've been going on that much about it. Its just fantastic. I just want to shout from the rooftops...

LENA DUNHAM IS A BLOODY GENUIS.

I think she is actually my new girl crush (lets all take a moment to appreciate how good she looks - attitude). For those of you who don't know who she is, she is most famous for HBO's TV show 'Girls'. Please just watch it, its hilarious and very relatable as a twenty something.

Her book was released in 2014 (I think, don't quote me!) so I have no idea why its taken me so long to read it. Not That Kind Of Girl is a book in which a young women 'tells you what she has learnt'. Oh its just so brilliant.

She just says it like it is. She doesn't coat it with sprinkles and glitter (even though some of the subjects she talks about could do with it...) which is admirable. Reading the book is just like having a gossip session with your best mate, I'm having a little giggle about it as I'm writing this post. There is no censoring happening in the book, its all vaginas, drugs and dildos...  and oh the failed sexual experiences and dickhead boyfriends. There are many situations in this book you'll read and exclaim ITS NOT JUST ME! Its actually a little like failed boyfriend therapy. I don't even want to talk about what happens in the book as it will just completely ruin it but there are four sections Body, Behaviour, Work and Big Picture. It just describes everything you are currently going through if you've graduated university and muddling your way through life.

"I never crawled, just rolled, an early sign that I was going to be resistant to most exercise and any sexual position that didn't allow me to relax my back."

This is, and will be for a long time, my favourite book quote ever. Please buy the book and be the weirdo laughing your way to work on the bus.

Book Review: Gone Girl

People had been telling me for a while to start reading Gone Girl. It was fairly recently turned into a film but I hate seeing a film before I have read the book. So my next book to read was evidently Gone Girl. 

One of my friends from work decided she wanted to read it too so we made a little book club within work (even though we got lots of banter for being ‘geeks’…). It was actually quite hard to read a book at the same time as someone else, so we ended up setting a set amount of chapters a week. 

The book is about a women, Amy, that goes missing and it focuses around her and her husband, Nick. Without giving too much away Nick is the prime suspect for her murder as everything leads back to him, but not is all as it seems…

To begin with, the book was quite hard to get into. It really did drag and I ended up hating the Amy character at the beginning. She was quite full of herself and came across as very pompous (I know its only a book…). The book is written in a diary format and this alternates between the two characters, Amy and Nick. I don’t usually enjoy this form of writing but this was done very effectively in this book. It gave you a real insight into the characters and their relationship with each other.

All of a sudden the book suddenly takes off and becomes a real page turner.. I literally could not put it down. As soon as you thought you knew what was happening, another curve ball was thrown in. It took me a while to read the first half, but after it started getting better I was devouring the chapters, I haven’t done that with a book in a very long time. 

The ending was a bit disappointing, but I don’t think it was a poor ending. I think it was because there was so much action throughout the book the ending didn’t do it justice. I felt like it didn’t really answer all the questions I wanted to know as a reader – it was a bit anti climatic…

All in all, it was a really enjoyable book and I would give it a strong 3/5 stars