Sketch Jets - Sketch Jets

Sketch Jets

​Sketch Jets
self-released; 2015

3.5 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Lachlan Scott (guitar), Hugh Buckingham (bass/vocals), Tom Kingshott  (guitar) and Adam Holmes (drums) are a four-piece band from Sydney, Australia called Sketch Jets. The band recently released a seven song self-titled album Sketch Jets, which unequivocally falls under the label of indie rock. While I was listening to the album I was reminded of bands like Real Estate, Deerhunter and Mac Demarco and even some veterans like Yo la Tengo and Jesus and Mary Chain. This album isn’t quite competitive with those artists at this point but the band does do a lot of things right and if they continue to improve could foresee good things happening. 

One of the biggest issues I see with albums all the time is that the artist or band will take many months or years to complete it. This can work if you are maybe Kevin Shields but for the rest of us mortals it leads to disparate sounding songs and incongruous ideas. In a pro move Sketch Jets realized this and wrote this album in about a month's time scrapping the other songs they had which didn’t work with their new-stripped back sound. 

The other thing the band has going for them right now it they stick to a palette of sounds which come in the form of clean reverb laced guitars, clean bass and dry sounding drums. On top of that the vocal delivery is aesthetically pleasing and works on a number of levels.

They open with “Clive” which is a catchy, shoegaze inspired song. I enjoyed the vibe a lot but thought the song stopped a bit too abruptly. The band continues to showcase some talent and songwriting chops with “Crush” and “With You Eyes Open.” The highlight amongst the batch was “Burn Our Love” which has exceptional vocal harmonies that are pretty infectious. 

The band is good but there were a couple of moments where they went off time, which at the end is a difference that separates the pros from the amateurs. Overall, the band has a lot of potential. Sketch Jets is a worthy debut that certainly deserves some attention and is hopefully just the beginning for the young band.

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