Jake Mann + The Upper Hand

Jake Mann authors rock songs imbued with the archetypal dustbowl patina of a Steinbeck story, delivering lyrical and melodic snapshots on powerful hooks. Parallel South is rife with desolation: people drifting apart, landscapes moved through - listening becomes sometimes voyeuristic, as if whats happening should be private and unrepeated. But, its too loud to be private and too native to the classic pop tradition to not be played over and over again. Thats the thing about Manns songwriting-it tells his stories of moody isolation and the hope that lies beyond destructive, worn-out situations. People cite greats whose greatness is tough to describe as touchstones - Elvis Costello, Pavement, Thiebauds overexposed vistas - theirs is the pathway Mann travels alongside on his Parallel South journey.