CD Review

It’s a cup of hot cocoa. It’s that well worn pair of slippers. It’s the couch that you are never getting rid of because it knows the shape of you. It’s comfort, and Christopher Jak’s new disc is just another musical form of it, giving your tired ears a place to come home.

Originally from New Jersey, Jak started out at a spry young age belting out tunes with the American Boychoir. When he moved to Fort Collins, Colorado a couple of years ago, he found its outgoing, outdoorsy environs to be a good counterweight to his more introspective Right Coast self. However, it seems that you can take the boy out of Jersey, but you can’t take the Jersey out of his songs.

Jak pulls from his ruminative Atlantic side to take quite a few lyrical journeys on the disc. The best songs on the record are “Angel Like Me”, a Lazy Boy of a song that speaks of redemption and protection, and “Obsession” a vocally lifting, but lyrically depressing tale of never-to-be-returned love. “Day Past a Child” and “Hold on Tight” are also solid -- both are tales of love in very different stages; fuzzy snapshots of emotional ups and downs.

Applause of the Rain didn’t wow me with its ambition; it didn’t knock me over with surprising riffs or vocal acrobatics. I was too busy enjoying it to notice anything like that. The songs, varied like members of the family, just invited themselves in for a quick drink and before you knew it we were up all night talking about old times. There is an easiness to the music on this album that makes it extremely likable.

Jak’s songs have a salience to them; he is succinct with his lyrics and sparing in his musical quirks. The smoothness of his voice reminded me somewhat of John Mayer—soft, but anxious to get a point across. Although some songs are less memorable than others (the song “This Time” is over-the-top with sappy confession), overall it’s a great listen that I enjoyed getting to know. Give it an ear and get comfortable.