Fort Jams – ‘Fort Jams Dream’ (Premiere)

Elliott Smith lives, or at least he does in the music of Fort Jams. Like Cymbals Eat Guitars before him, Fort Jams’ Joel Bond draws on the late singer-songwriter’s electric legacy: high-pitched melodies, heavy-wristed riffs underneath and melancholy straight up the middle. “Fort Jams Dream,” the b-side of Fort Jams’ likewise excellent “Jacket Inside” 7″, also takes a page from contemporary trends: the blurry, druggy sounds of Kurt Vile and the Woodsist Records crew are tapped into here, but Bond remains in focus, insistent and alone.

// The limited-edition “Jacket Inside” 7″ is out now on Plastic Jurassic.