Jake Down: Feeling the emotion of dark yet hopeful songs (The Local Spins Artist Spotlight)

The Grand Rapids singer-songwriter releases a new EP this month before embarking on a Midwest tour. He and his band, The Midwest Mess, play The Pyramid Scheme on Friday.

 

Jake Down isn’t so much taking the gloves off musically these days as he is just letting the songs go where they want to go.

Consequently, the Grand Rapids singer-songwriter’s new folk-rock EP, “Ghost-Ship,” has an edgier, bolder feel.

“It’s a little more raw and we were able to experiment a little more and have fun,” Down says of the album recorded in the studio of Jake Kalmink, guitarist-singer for the Holland band The Fever Haze.

“I think this one leans more toward artists like Frank Turner or Neutral Milk Hotel, just blending those elements of rock and kind of thinking outside the box – not just using acoustic instrumentation, but still using that as the base of the songs.”

And for the 26-year-old artist releasing just his second album on Lansing’s Great Lakes Collective record label, some of those songs sprouted quite naturally.

SONGS WITH A LIFE OF THEIR OWN

“It kind of takes on a life of its own as you sit with it and develop it,” he says of his songwriting. “Sometimes it just gets away from you. You kind of throw it out there and it kind of grows legs and goes where it wants to go sometimes.”

The same might be said for Down, a songwriter who only got serious about music in recent years but who’s growing legs and embarking on his first major Midwest tour as a solo act to promote the new album, which officially gets released digitally on iTunes and Spotify on July 29.

Before that, however, he’ll celebrate the upcoming new album (which will also be released on vinyl) with his band The Midwest Mess by opening for national indie-rock faves Murder by Death at The Pyramid Scheme on Friday night.

On Wednesday, he stopped by the studios of News Talk 1340 AM (WJRW) for Local Spins Live to talk about the new album and play the title track on the air. Listen to a podcast of the show here and watch a video of his performance below.

For Down, aka Jacob Pauwels, who produces and engineers a syndicated radio show by day, the new album represents the next whistle stop on the journey for his emotion-drenched music.

“I feel like it’s changed in that as I grow and develop more skill (I can) more easily translate my ideas to actuality. Before, I was limited by my skill level and my experience,” offers the St. Clair Shores native and Ferris State University graduate. “I definitely gravitate toward more of the artists with a powerful voice. … I like to be able to feel the emotion of the song.”

WRITING ABOUT REALITY: DARK AND HOPEFUL

That emotion drives his incisive musical approach, which paints pictures that are bleak as well as bright.

“Generally, I write about reality, and I think a lot of reality can be dark at times,” he concedes.

“I think pop music can tend to give people unrealistic expectations of what reality is. But I would say there is generally hope in my music. It’s not just ‘Everything is horrible and everything is burning.’ ”

Friday’s Pyramid Scheme show will feature Down on guitar and vocals, Rusty Vining on electric guitar, Charles Bleisch on violin, Matt Pickel on bass and Chris McClurken on drums. Murder by Death headlines the 8 p.m. concert, with Mike Mains & The Branches also on the bill. Tickets are $15 in advance, $17 the day of the show. Details online at pyramidschemebar.com.

After that, Down will prepare for an August solo tour that’s the longest he’s ever attempted. It starts Aug. 1 in South Bend, Ind., and winds its way through Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville and Indianapolis, before returning to Michigan.

“When I sat down with the label (about the tour), we just kind of shot for the fences and a lot of the elements lined up,” says Down, who looks forward to “meeting people from all over” as part of his Midwest jaunt.

“Playing solo is a lot of fun. It’s exciting for me as a songwriter because I feel like people can pay more attention to the lyrics of the song, can be more focused on the message of the song.”

For more information about Down, visit his website at www.jakedown.com or pre-order the new album at preorder.jakedown.com.

Email John Sinkevics at john@localspins.com.
Copyright 2014, Spins on Music