Matthew Jay - '...Too Soon' (Jay Music Ltd) Released 18/10/04

When Matthew Jay plunged out of a seventh storey window last year, he became part of a succession of tragic acoustic singers who lost their lives at an unjustly young age. It’s true that albums always take on an extra poignancy when the artist dies young, and the person sometimes grows in prestige and can become almost legendary in status (Nick Drake for example). When faced with work of the recently deceased, it’s easy to get carried away with the emotions and hail mediocre work as good. Luckily, ‘…Too Soon’ is for the most part a decent album and confirms that Jay is worthy of posthumous praise.

The album is not just a random mixture of tunes, it’s clearly been thoughtfully put together and feels like a complete and balanced album in its own right. ‘… too soon’ is undoubtedly at its best when the songs are simplistic and melodic. The melancholy opener, ‘Louie’, is poignantly simple – a desperate plea to a friend about to go off the rails, the guitars are uplifting with Jay’s voice sounds particularly like Michael Head. Similarly, ‘Four Minute Rebellion’ is a beautiful, uplifting tune that revolves around the haunting lyrics: “Why are you staring at me? You’re breaking my nose from twenty-five feet”. The infectious and fragile ‘You’re Not Here’ shows that Jay was an old romantic at heart who yearned for love.

On ‘Aurea’ Jay opts for a more textured, full band sound, yet this is at the sacrifice of catchy tune. The only other weak track, ‘I hope She’s Alright’ is pleasant enough yet it sounds distressingly too much like Del Amitri for comfort. Generally, ‘… too soon’ may not be particularly groundbreaking stuff, but it’s a perfect snippet of a great songwriter whose presence will be sorely missed.