7/10
Jakob The Liar’s debut EP 'Wake Up Mr. Kupferberg' looks to establish one of the more innovative names currently doing the rounds. With a fearless blend of poetic grit and emotional weight, the London-based artist offers a manifesto rooted in pain, protest, and purpose. Across this six-track collection, Jakob mines the core of personal and political turmoil, delivering songs that ache with memory and burn with resistance.
From the opening moments, it’s clear we’re in the presence of something urgent. Whether channelling the melodic fragility of Jeff Buckley or the firebrand spirit of RATM's Zach de la Rocha, Jakob turns personal loss, societal fracture, and spiritual unrest into something cathartic and combustible. Tracks like 'Paradigm $H!T' hit like a molotov cocktail lobbed into the heart of apathy, while others like 'A Song Like You' pulse with a quiet intensity.
This is an artist unafraid of paradox. He wears his contradictions proudly as both a truth-teller and self-dubbed "liar". It’s this duality that gives the EP its charge, bridging raw folk confessionals with explosive alt-rock declarations. And at its centre is Jakob’s wise, and unwavering voice. Born from illness, grief, and spiritual trial, it carries the scars of someone who’s lost time but not conviction.
'Wake Up Mr. Kupferberg' is an awakening, both for the artist and anyone tuned in. In a year crowded with noise, Jakob The Liar dares to make something that matters. The revolution doesn’t always need a riot. Sometimes it starts with a pen and a voice like his.