I Will Die In This Jean Jacket “HANG FROM A CLOUD” LP limited BLACK VINYL SWA172

I Will Die In This Jean Jacket is a testimony of how the lines between commitment and attachments are often blurred. It is the new gloom-punk project from Jim Blaha (The Blind Shake, Green/Blue).   On “Hang From A Cloud” he concludes over three years of artistic solitude by heading back into the basement to create in an even deeper state of isolation. Here he captured the feeling he had from the mixtapes a friend used to make during their teenage skateboarding years— where late 70’s post punk sat comfortably alongside the more exposed underground sounds of the 80’s and 90’s and every song seemed to come from the same hazy, imaginary city somewhere far, far away.

Recording onto a 1/4” tape machine and mixing everything down to the all important cassette, Jim emerged with an indiffussable sound.  “Hang From A Cloud” is a long-lost pirate radio transmission from an alternate 1980’s universe. The album is entirely analog by design. Guitars, vocals, drums, drum machines and bass all captured on hobbled together equipment in cinder block bunker on a frigid midwest, winter night.  There is a one dimensional resonance with a sheen of distortion and rust that is betrayed by the direct and simplistic beauty of the songwriting.  “Hang From A Cloud” is a no-fi, DIY treasure that transports the listener to a parallel dimension where The Go Betweens, The Clean, Jesus And The Mary Chain, New Order, Guided By Voices and “Flip Your Wig” era Husker Du are cherished and celebrated the same.