I’ve heard that the measure of good art is how much the critics are inspired to write on it.  If this is true, then The Jank’s debut album, The Hands Of Time, is a Picasso.  Each track is elusive and manipulative.  As soon as you think its Queen, they throw Neil Young at you.  You think your hearing 60’s pop and then a carousel comes in.  

This is what all good bands do.  They transcend comparisons.  There’s 60’s and 70’s pop, Neil Young, Ryan Adams, The Blues, The Who, and a whole slew of other stuff in here, but its well hid underneath the bands own twisted chops.  They make the music their own and eventually develop their personal mode of music.  They draw the listener in with familiar sounds and then wring their hearts with innovation.

The title track, “Hands of time,” starts off the album with a carousel spinning around a Queen-like melody and pop-roots guitar before erupting into a psychedelic masterpiece.  It exists on a plane all its own.  Before you know it, Hands of Time, has sunk into you and you’re living in that magical space created by epic albums.  That space where you go when Dark Side of The Moon is playing or Blonde On Blonde.

The next few tracks float through psychedelic-sixties-pot-smoke—but only to surprise you with the following track’s atomic blues.  “Demon Dance” is an all out attack on the world with a thumping beat, strung-out guitar and the tenacity of a cocaine binge. It’s like a Jack White stomping the shit off Exhile On Main Street‘s shoes.

The album is not always as innovative as the aforementioned tracks, but even songs like “Echo Whispers” which have a recognizable familiarity, hold their own like folk standards.  The tracks are well composed and deep sonically.  Nothing feels cliché and even the few tracks that come up a little flat would be welcome on any other bands album.

The only real flaw that the album has–if you can call it a flaw–is the fact that it unevenly disperses the up-tempo and slower songs throughout the album.  The slower songs seem to be coupled together to much in the beginning and the up-temp at the end.  This is a valid complaint for a  listener looking to hear the album front to back.   But even inspite of that small flaw, this is the most refreshing album to come out of the ever widening indie-scene in a while.  There are so many bands and so little time to listen.  Make it a priority to listen to this one.  They are worth it.