LUCAS JACK, Bittersweet is Better

First thing that may come to mind when pop/rock fans of a certain age listen to Bittersweet is Better, the extraordinary, enigmatically titled, ultra-nostalgic and defiantly hopeful third album by singer songwriter Lucas Jack is, “Why did Jackson Browne wait so long to deliver his best album in decades?”

It’s not only the cool, passionate yet laid back quality of Jack’s voice and his moody mid-tempo rock energy, but also his ability to use his lyrical poetry to create infectious, almost anthemic hooks while paint images that inspire us to think, dare us to dream, make us feel young (or long for those days), miss our exes and, in one playfully chugging, rockin’ instance, help us think of ways to re-open the “Door of Love.”

Bittersweet is Better is the powerful result of sessions that the Chicago based singer/songwriter he and his bandmates Justin Schneider and Mike Gomez,had in 2022-23 at Brooklyn’s Studio G with producer Pete Harper after honing their sound for six years. One realm where Jack is different from artists from the classic rock era, though – to paraphrase The Beatles, he’s a big teaser, having built momentum for the full album’s release by amassing over 1M streams for nine previously released singles throughout 2023 and early to mid-2024.

The most popular of these are “Runaway Suns,” an atmospheric bluesy pop/rocker , atmospheric rocker whose key thematic lines are “So when I wake up/I’m gonna rise and I will shine/Hangin’ by a thread of disappearing time”; and the percussive and throbbing, ultimately soaring soaring funk/rocker “Down With the Night,” where Jack shares his feeling of euphoria: “I’m feeling big and living large/I get down with the night/Just chasing all the lights.”

At the other extreme, Jack addresses the dark realities of addiction on “On My Way,” singing emotionally about testing medicine and not wanting to feel his face in the mirror. He adds, poignantly, “Now I’m caught in the headlights/Watching myself/Blowin’ all the deadlines. . .Is it possible not to feel jealous when I see everybody under control.” The only song on Bittersweet is Better that hasn’t already dropped is “Not Yet,” a heartfelt piano driven power ballad bound to put a lump in the listener’s throat.