duly impressed<\/a> with his chops as both songwriter and performer.<\/p>\nIt took another eight years\u2014and a Mellencamp-style change from \u201cJohnny Gallagher\u201d to his acting moniker of John Gallagher Jr.\u2014before his debut full-length Goodbye Or Something<\/i> arrived in 2024, spawning two years of periodic live dates.<\/p>\n
Goodbye Or Something<\/i> was explicitly a breakup record; Gallagher\u2019s new five-song EP Almost OK<\/i> seems to chart the aftermath.<\/p>\n
Opener and lead single \u201cTough Spit\u201d is the exception that proves the rule, a bitter Elvis Costello-tinged tirade \/ lament addressing the free-floating anxiety felt by anyone in America still paying attention to the state of things. In this one case, the breakup Gallagher is suffering through seems to be the country\u2019s split from both democracy and rational thought.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He gets back to the subject at hand on \u201cNever Leave,\u201d a fast-paced acoustic-and-synth number whose narrator is navigating the passage from coupled to single, and it\u2019s a bumpy ride: \u201c\u2026this town is haunted by all the ghosts of all the yous from all the befores \/ And if you love somebody, set \u2019em free \/ Unless that somebody is me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both songs serve to highlight the contributions of Gallagher\u2019s sterling supporting cast. This EP was co-produced by band members Oscar Albis Rodriguez (lead guitar) and Zach Jones (drums\/vocals), with Tim Lappin (bass) and fellow Grand Phony artist Hannah Winkler (keys \/ vocals) filling out a tight, road-tested lineup that\u2019s been backing Gallagher on live dates for the past two years.<\/p>\n
Next up, the mid-tempo \u201cAll This Changing\u201d finds our broken-up-with narrator going through a patch of resentment and cynicism, driven by hurt and loneliness. Winkler\u2019s harmony vocals underscore the message as Gallagher sings \u201cI\u2019m so sick of starting over \/ I\u2019m old enough to know that nothing lasts,\u201d though there\u2019s a hint of sunshine at the close: \u201cBaby, appreciate you waiting \/ And wading with me through all this changing \/ And one day the sun will shine and I\u2019ll say \/ \u2018Hey, how about that? I\u2019m feeling almost ok.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Our narrator turns the corner on \u201cMitsuko,\u201d a road song about falling for someone right before leaving town. There\u2019s a nice exuberance and build to it as he tries to convey the intensity of his crush: \u201cI don\u2019t want to overwhelm you, don\u2019t want to scare you away \/ But tomorrow\u2019s just a rumor and I don\u2019t want to waste another day.\u201d The brief EP closes with \u201cLido Lane,\u201d a gentle, dreamy number with a hint of Jeff Tweedy in its gauzy patina.<\/p>\n
Almost OK<\/i> is little more than a snapshot, to be sure, but one with enough substance to carry real weight and dimension. John Gallagher Jr. is a strong songwriter and gifted performer whose authentic passion for making music shines through again and again. Here\u2019s hoping there\u2019s more to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":35496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[11191],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-47393","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-john-gallagher-jr","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47393"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51831,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47393\/revisions\/51831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47393"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=47393"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=47393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}