Jacob Slater – ‘Pinky, I Love You’ album review: musically minimalist, lyrically nihilist
Stepping out on his own for the first time, Jacob Slater, frontman of indie rock outfit Wunderhorse, has unveiled his debut album, Pinky, I Love You. It’s a record that’s musically confined to Slater and his guitar, but thematically sprawling. Slater’s lyrics wade through the meaning of life, love, and infidelity in just eight tracks.
Pinky, I Love You follows the acclaimed release of Wunderhorse’s debut record, Cub, just last year. Slater’s solo album was created alongside Cub, he shared, “Pinky, I Love You is a collection of songs that come from the same period as Cub. They didn’t make sense with a band so I recorded them on my own.”
Slater is certainly correct in saying that the songs on Pinky, I Love You wouldn’t have made sense for Wunderhorse. While he retains his poetic, evocative lyrical style and intricate guitar melodies, Slater’s solo work abandons the upbeat sound of Wunderhorse in favour of subdued, stripped back soundscapes.
Opening track, ‘One for the Pigeons’, immediately lets listeners know that this is not a Wunderhorse record. Over an intricate, quick finger picked guitar, Slater sings of a devoted love, declaring, “I just wanna die with you in my arms tonight.” The track remains minimalist throughout, only ever bulked up by some layered hums, but Slater’s vocals become increasingly high-pitched, almost taking on an eerie quality by the track’s conclusion. It’s a fitting precursor for what Slater sets out to do on Pinky, I Love You, which is dominated by themes of love and death.
‘I Do’ continues this juxtaposition, with a contemplative nature reminiscent of Jeff Buckley. While the title implies the song might be about marriage and love, it actually begins Slater’s preoccupation with nihilism which pervades the record. He flips the expected context of his title to do this, as he sings, “She said if you can’t dance to music, you may have lost the movement of your mind, I said sometimes I think I’m losing mine, I do, I do.” The song continues to debate the meaningless of life and luck, over twangy guitars that are indistinguishably melancholic and peaceful.
The record’s only single, ‘Kissin’ Booth’, deviates from philosophy, instead charting Slater’s experiences of infidelity. The track begins with confidence as he defiantly states his knowledge of the crime, “He always said that you had looks to kill for, I guess he planned the perfect crime”. By the end of the song, Slater has resorted to begging his lover to lie to him, desperately asking, “Just tell me it wasn’t you in the kissing booth”. Though this track is particularly emotionally charged, it retains the calm guitar instrumentals that soundtrack the entire record.
‘Blue Lullabies’ is an intimate, old-timey tune that would feel right at home in a smokey jazz bar. Lyrically, it combines Slater’s concerns with love and death as he laments, “Every dream runs out of time, just like you and I”. It has the potential for drama and gravitas, but it never quite reaches it.
‘Untitled’, meanwhile, features some pleasant guitar moments but is largely more of the same lyrically and sonically. He declares, “I lay there in your arms for the very last time”, calling back to the track’s opening before he delivers a series of emotional, moaning vocalisations.
‘Red Balloon’ is the final original track on the record, which features a cutesy guitar opening and feels slightly warmer than most of the record. Slater’s words continue to debate mortality: “What do you think happens when we all die? Where do we go? I don’t know. I don’t care.” Slater’s indifference, whether real or feigned, is reflected in his instrumentals, which are unchanging throughout the song. Slater rounds out the record with a fuzzy cover of ‘Moon River’.
Pinky, I Love You is an exploration of minimalism and nihilism and a step away from Slater’s sound in his endeavours with Wunderhorse and the Dead Pretties. With clear themes that chart life, love and death, and consistent instrumentation, it seems that Slater achieved what he set out to with the record. Unfortunately, while it has moments of beauty in its lyrics and some charming guitar moments, Pinky, I Love You is too one note.
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