Listen Up!
UK Rock artist Zac Jr hits every note and step magically on new album 'Don't Listen To Me'

Zac Jr isn't just a good musician, he's a great artist with a fantastic style and grasp of taking retro sounds and different genre elements and bring them flowing into today's music melee. On his latest album "Don't Listen to Me" (a title of contradictions as it is seemingly impossible not to listen to the artist) you can hear the 70's Tom Petty influence ripple into moments that move from The 1975 brilliance to Family of the Year eloquence. But endearment, tenderness and honesty are the DNA of this 13 track (of which only 4 tracks are under 4 minutes) sonic bliss.

Make no mistake, I think Zac Jr is one of the most incredible undiscovered talents out there. Full stop! But reviews can be very subjective. Everyone has a point of view and can connect (or not) differently. I could write praise upon praise, and I would because I truly believe this is a full package record that is as impactful as it is relaxed. But making space is a much better way to learn to appreciate an artists work. So I asked Zac to take us through the album and give us snapshots of each track from his own connections and creation. The results raise the album from a piece of work to a realized collection. A journey we're fortunate to be invited to travel along on.

So in Zac's own words, lets dive in and look at each track and learn more about this engaging and exciting artist and his brand new album.

E-Z Street
When you plan and you have only one goal, it seems easy, but sometimes you never make it there and you question everything you've left behind or lost; some that have made it to Easy Street had to sacrifice so much, they wish they'd never made it there, but most don't. The arrangement reminds me of Volcano Choir's Tiderays.

Q Review Note:
All future road trips begin with this song

...And This Is Forever
Disappointment, pessimism, reclusion. You can be tough for while, but it'll break you eventually and you'll be different. "This is how I feel, the same mistakes again, it's the same old thing, hey it's making me into someone else, and I'm losing it. Don't wanna lose myself." Originally meant to be programmed, it became a full band song.

Q Review Note:
A beautiful example of light and shade. And that chorus carries you away.

​Flashback!
Coping by remembering better times, even if they're just better because you were younger then. Some Britney in here. Shamelessly Maus/Pink-style vocal sound.

Q Review Note:
The grooves are so very real. 

I’m On Meds
Originally written during the Tide and Times sessions, a tribute to anti-depressants. Not a slander, not a praise, depression and it's treatment is often no better or worse than each other. Everyone wants to prescribe you.

Synth inspired by Leo Sayer's Build You A Rainbow/The World Has Changed and One Direction's Where Do Broken Hearts Go.

Q Review Note:
Being inspired by Leo and 1D for the same song fills my soul!

​Days Will Last
So much of your life goes by so quickly, and you don't realize it until it's gone. Distortion outro ala Aphex Twin.

Q Review Note:
Starkly introspective but a good shake of realization and life awareness

​While I’m 30
Jealous of people your exact age that have become famous. But are we jealous, or are they the inspirations? And did we take the wrong career path? More A.P. vibes.

Q Review Note:
Shockingly on point

​Don’t Listen To Me
All it takes is one person with power to make you heard, and that person to turn their eye to leave you in complete anon. Don't worry if people are doing better than you. Being in your early twenties is depression, but being 33 is worse because you've learned. Songs are too cute, face is too sweet. Can't get your material up and over in such a slow career, but you can get it close. If you fail, you lose your drive, but you'll need to blindly believe in yourself to get through it. But what do I know? I'm not anyone. Liz Phair stylings.

Q Review Note:
​This is Everything!

​Nothing’s Done
Time for some positivity from the angel on the right shoulder inside. Instrumentation builds from machines to band ala Phil Collin's Take Me Home. Everything else from Jai Paul's Do You Love Her Know and Prince/Martika's Love...Thy Will Be Done.

Q Review Note:
I hear it all and it's glorious!

​When The Song Gets Played
Lots of things you want... sex, love, success. People get your hopes up, let you down. Better to keep to yourself, but the want for it never leaves. Maybe you'll survive, maybe you won't, but you know you're lost, maybe crying is the only thing you can do to ease it. A Liz Phair rock-and-roller.

Q Review Note:
From the Cars to America to Petty and Phair and so much more. This is a full meal.

​Being Famous
It's not worth trying. Those who want it don't know what it's really like, and those that have it, resent it... but it's addictive either way. Trend-setters get claimed, and eventually when they try to be real again, someone will scandalize them. The Donnas-style hard rock.

Q Review Note:
That opening guitar is killer and sets the song up as a double barrel punch

​The Ballad Of Lex and Eve
Inspired by a romance from a T.V. show that ended with the friends separating. Maybe they'd only ever be friends, maybe more, but why break up just because you're only friends? Especially when one was willing to do anything for you? Mine has a bit more romance. Maus/A.P. CZ organs, Motown/Alan Tarney cut-time.

Q Review Note:
​A Personal Fave!

Everyone Gets A Chance To Find Their Peace
It's become increasingly popular to cover Bruce Springsteen's I'm On Fire in recent years. Rompler drums become live drums (again). Sufjan Stevens meets Bruce Hornsby meets Dire Straits. Uilleann pipes, thanks Mark Knopfler and Phil Collins.

Q Review Note:
​This should have been on the Boyhood Soundtrack! #Injustice

The Woman In The Mirror
An actual dream I had, looking in the mirror and seeing a perfect woman that made me feel comfortable in my skin for a change. But will I ever make a change? Man In The Mirror-esque. Use of slim, thin... just callus words I'd use to describe myself perfectly, not a reflection of how I feel about others. 

Motown cut-time drums, Tony Banks CP-80 and Boss CE-1.

The whole album was recorded with Gretsch drums, Sabian cymbals, Jazzmaster/Stratocaster, Precision bass and an assortment of synthesizers.

Q Review Note:
The spirit in this song is incredibly free

Read our earlier feature and get to know more about Zac Jr
Getting to Know...Zac Jr.

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