Discovery: Jack Bowden - "Arsonist"

It takes creativity and talent to learn how to write like Kent based musician Jack Bowden. Without trying to sound too respectful, Bowden's song writing skills are next to none for the subject matter. Flicking through his repertoire of songs, I noticed Bowden has a sincere sense of humour, with his writing clearly directed at a generation of mod-pop noughties and nineties kids. Everyone and their mum can safely listen to and follow Ed Sheeran on Twitter; but Jan down the road won't be listening to Bowden no matter what status of elevation he achieves - and that's down to his song-writing, and coincidentally his musical style.

There's something about Kent musicians, Deal specifically, that excels in song-writing and musical ability. I don't have to look far back to Will Varley's very warm and intimate unscheduled gig at the Cambridge Folk Festival campsite at 1am to remember just how excellent Deal musicians can be. With the Smugglers Records collective like Varley and Cocos Lovers; there's this sense of disbelief about the quality of music available down there.

Bowden excels in the double entendre; it’s his go to weapon on "Arsonist". Many of his songs follow suit, but specifically "Arsonist" with its morbid atmosphere and sorrowful lyrics. Here listeners are exposed to some of Bowden's best features, a soulful, youthful voice, skilled acoustic guitar playing, and a big fat sheet of lyrics designed to unleash all the question marks in the listeners head. It's very intelligently created, the same can be said about the budget video which like Bowden, surprises in it' simplistic beautiful meaning.
-Eddie Gibson