Jacob 'the' William & Danny 'wants' James were first dubbed by the younger brother of Vortex Magazine founder, Chase Young, as the closest living representation of the charm, complexity , and undeniably well crafted songs that are actually quite comparable to those of the infamous Lennon/McCartney songwriting duo.
This of course is for the listener to decide, but a factual element that stood out on their first press kit used up long ago, it big bold letters, read the headline: "....all while these two young men were not even old enough to buy cigarettes." Yes, while still in high school the two of them became close friends because Danny (who played in a band) was looking for someone who could record music... and Jacob (who had a home studio) was looking for new bands to record. Simple [yet significant] as that. During these recording sessions, while they all slaved over many the numerous takes of still unsure bass player, they would manage to sneak away for cigarette. Taking advantage of this opportunity, they began privately discussing how much better (and easier) it would be if the two of them just recorded all the instrument parts themselves. It made perfect sense to them, after all, they wrote the damn thing. Little did they know they, that the easygoing approach they both brought to the table, together with different ways of working, and with the two diversely different musical ideology in their approach, that it would be a successful partnership that would last well over a thousand written and recorded songs.
While the two of them both can sing, harmonize, play every instrument, and work at a feverish pace, they certainly have a style/sound of that is uniquely them. As one review from www.allmusic.com wrote...
"Raw, lo-fi, unedited live recordings, out of tune guitars, everything that are prerequisites of something horrible - truth is, pure beauty. These songs are amazingly written, well crafted, catchy, lively, and full of youthful exuberance. Honestly, this album is pure brilliance and I'll go as far to say that it is borderline genius. (At least for two 17 year old kids in a garage and over the span of a 1 month, I think so)..."
But what stands out the most, is their natural understanding and lack of standardized rules that all seem so ritually familiar yet modernly fresh - thus bringing on the Lennon/McCartney & Simon/Garfunkel comparisons . Musicians and music scholars alike all understand that the one thing anybody can teach about music, is the ability to create a melody. It has never been - and probably never will be - a learned skill. It cant be taught, it cant be told. It cant be bought, it cant be sold. You either were born with that unique gift or ability to hear melody, or not. It's important to understand this and keep in mind while listening to Jacob & Danny teach us all while making the rest of us songwriters jealous.
please, just hear for yourself if you know what I mean. They need your support!
