Are human beings actually capable of being happy?
When you see one of those stock photos of people having a good time at a festival, grinning like fiends, don’t you just think, ‘But it’s fifteen quid for a pizza’, or maybe, ‘Have the toilets been set on fire yet?’.
Jack Steadman believes. He wants to turn our frowns upside down with music. Most recently of a successful reunion with his teenage friends, or Bombay Bicycle Club as they were/are known, the man also known as Mr. Jukes has, in tandem (sorry), been working on the follow-up to his solo debut – 2017’s God First – with east London-based rapper Barney Artist.
And after setting out on a mission to give the public some post-pandemic solace – specifically to, ‘Bring hope to people after the maddest year’ – The Locket arrives charged with doing all that and more.
On the big smiles menu is a blend of old school hip-hop, soul, funk and jazz; the titular opener begins with a sampled question, ‘Where is the soul?’ – and then answers it via big horns and a kitsch but obviously affectionate yen for the subject matter.
It’s a pattern that doesn’t really change; Blowin Steam (Open Up Your Mind) showcases Barney Artist’s gift for bars that are both intricate enough to draw respect but then calm and playful, even when deep in contests: ‘Now we glow in the streets to show the trail/Well, mandem wanna try and flex with a G/I’m the next best if they wanna step in the scene/Seen what you wanna bark a lot, aight, the dogs’.
Happily he’s a fighter and a lover, so on Poems when the best thing is nearby and words almost fail him the accidental reveal of a book filled with prose takes things to the next romantic level; it’s hard to work out whether he ends up so much in love with the girl, or the words that swirl round her like some kind of halo.
It’s not all his work on guest duties though: Lex Amor steps in on Autumn Leaves, her laconic part on a three-way exploration of heartbreak and regret one of the unexpected departures that showcases The Locket’s never-formulaic appeal. Elsewhere, Kofi Stone appears on Check The Pulse, a floor-ready R&B nugget that handsomely mines the nineties’ peak of a golden age.
If being not sad is encapsulated in one episode here though, it’s not with the slowest of jams Deja Vu but on Vibrate, a tougher-than-it-sounds sideways look at being aware and prepared amongst all those summery horns, whilst not many more verses will be more British than the killer couplet: ‘If you wanna reach for the cheese/Keep your eyes on the trap’.
Delivering an album where badness is nowhere to be felt might be looked upon as escapism, particularly when things look like they may get worse long before they get better.
But The Locket is a brave, optimistic and heartfelt record because of that, and whatever Mr. Jukes’ future might be, it took a moment to isolate happiness, sprinkle in some joy and prove that if you’re open of mind better things can still happen.
