Come Fly With Me

The garage rock revival marches on with Jet’s debut album Get Born. Hailing from Melbourne Australia, they are set to make their footprint much in the vein of another Australian band, The Vines. This retro lo-fi rock seems loaded with bands reminiscent of their inspirations/predecessors. The Hives sound like old Iggy Pop, The Vines sound like Nirvana crossed with Beatles-era ballads, and much akin to that Jet sounds like late sixties Rolling Stones. Fortunately, the similarity is not derivative. Jet rocks along with precision and cocksure swagger.It’s impossible not to make the Rolling Stones connection though, so much of what made the Rolling Stones compelling is exactly the same formula that Jet employs. Songs like “Last Chance,” “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” and “Cold Hard Bitch” exemplify testosterone-fueled power rock marked by a decidedly stripped-down sound. But then Jet mixes it up with ultra-serene longing ballads like “Timothy,” “Radio Song” and “Look What You’ve Done,” the last of which finds singer-guitar player Nic Cester warmly singing “Oh look what you’ve done / You’ve made a fool of everyone.” It’s this dichotomy that makes Jet successful. They will partly rock your socks off, and then partly help you fall in love… it’s remarkably convincing. Nic Cester and his brother, drummer Chris Cester, bring the blues-rock to life like it never went away. In spite of the retro sound, there is one moment of magnificent forward looking experimentation in the upbeat noisy track “Lazy Gun,” but Get Born is free-wheeling retro rock at it’s best.