7/10

Jack Garratt’s third record 'Pillars' is a reckoning with the scaffolding that holds us together when everything else threatens to collapse. Across its eleven tracks, Garratt strips back the gloss of expectation to reveal a body of work that feels urgent, intimate, and unafraid of contradiction. It’s a record that can whisper like a confession one moment and surge like a warehouse floor the next, yet always circles back to its core theme: what it means to love and be loved in all its flawed, fleeting forms.

'Higher' captures this duality perfectly. What begins as a hushed melodic sketch soon spirals into something restless and feverish, its breakbeat rhythm echoing the way desire can suddenly sprint out of control. The track feels alive in its own skin; pleading, ecstatic, and knowingly vulnerable. That sense of volatility threads through much of 'Pillars', whether in the thumping adrenaline of 'Ready! Steady! Go!' or the reflective glow of 'Catherine Wheel'. Garratt thrives in these shifting spaces, pushing emotion and production to their breaking point and then rebuilding them anew.

Self-produced in his North London studio, the album bears the hallmarks of an artist who has fully claimed his sound. Tiny details such as a vocal line re-sung until it bruises just right, or an instrument layered until it sighs instead of shouts give the record its lived-in resonance. The collaboration with Johan Hugo adds colour, but 'Pillars' is unmistakably Garratt’s vision: meticulous, generous, and deeply human.

For an artist once burdened by early accolades, 'Pillars' feels like the work of someone who has stopped chasing validation and instead built a sanctuary where chaos, beauty, and imperfection coexist. It’s an open invitation: come as you are, let the walls shake, and stay as long as you need.