Jackson Scott

If ever a mission statement was made clear, North Carolina's sonic spaceman Jackson Scott couldn't have been plainer about the direction his new album would take; "Going to make another record now," read the text on his blog. "Will be influenced by Nas' Illmatic. Will be influenced by Kubrick. Will be influenced by nihilism and a whole mess of other things. Will attempt not to give fucks about the outcome, we'll see how that goes. There is lots of optimism/hope/love in store so try not to get cynical on me."

Although it's often true that the best laid plans go awry, Jackson Scott is a man of his word. If one thing can be relied upon it's that music will either lift you up to the clouds or drag you deeper into the fog, and here, on brand new album Sunshine Redux both negative and positive influences meet on what's surely the most fantastically curious and cutting edge neo-psych record of 2015 so far.



Take the ramshackle garage sound of lead track "Pacify," which firmly places Scott alongside scuzz contemporaries Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin, or North Carolina neighbour Bradford Cox and his Atlas Sound project; "Pacify is about being happy even when surrounded by total dissonance," explains Scott. "I was feeling weird and writing the song made me feel better. When things are most fucked, it's often when you can be happiest... You can pacify whenever you want."

Recorded in the same Asheville home as 2013's no frills debut Melbourne, Sunshine Redux finds Scott redefining his apocalyptic pop through newly purchased and upgraded gear of his very own; a Jackson Scott Version 2.0 if you like, bolstered by his most cohesive musical undertaking yet. "Sunshine Redux is about my own dichotomy of euphoria and despair," reveals Scott. "I get into a very internalized hyperactive mental state until the album is done. But I wanted to make an album that was totally cohesive from start to finish, not just throw a bunch of songs together."