Car Fires on the Freeway hits like a beautiful and dangerous fever dream of Los Angeles at rush hour, way too honest to turn down. On their debut album Car Fires on the Freeway, JAGG, consisting of Zach, Logan, Lullah, Caitlin, Ray Joseph, and William, congest funnel day jobs, side hustles, freeway gridlock, and ego collisions into a ten-track blast of post-punk art rock.
Think somewhere between Shame and Fontaines D.C., with the nervy intelligence of Talking Heads and the emotional volatility of IDLES, but wired to the specific madness of trying to make art and meaning in a city that can chew you up in a weekend. Recorded largely live at The Hobby Shop in Highland Park and finished off in their own apartments, the record keeps all the grit, sweat, and sideways glances of a band that actually shares rooms, not just playlists.
โIntroโ sets the scene like the first shot of a film. The song has driving waves of guitar riffs, and it bursts in bouts of bustling drums. The piano also joins the waves of guitar riffs. Itโs like ocean waves splashing every now and then, until it gets constant and everything merges. Youโre dropped right into motion before youโve even buckled up.
โOrangeโ turns that forward momentum into something more uncomfortably relatable. The song has fuzzy, gritty guitars buzzing, and the drums thumping engagingly. The singer, with his thick deep voice, gets up some lines in spoken word. These lines were particularly striking, โSide hustle and another job, itโs never enough, itโs never enough/Consistent, persistence, a work horse, no resistance, no ambitionโฆheโs a burnout, mediocreโฆโ The delivery gets more urgent as it goes on. It leaves a gentle, soothing, dreamy opening with piano playing lightly and frolicking as he hums, before the drums come back and he starts singing with an agonized trail in his voice, crying for his father, devastation spilling out as his urgency spikes.
By the time you reach โCar Fire,โ the song has fuzzy riffing guitars and shimmery guitars, and the singer sings hazily, with bustling thumping drums. It feels like driving past an actual wreck on the freeway, when you canโt look away, because somewhere in the smoke and noise, you recognize your own life on the line. Check out JAGGโs Car Fires on the Freeway on Spotify, if you like what you hear.
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Review by: Naomi Joan