If there is one thing for certain, after listening to this album, your feeling will be anything but Miffed, as Jemma Freeman and the Cosmic Something follow up their 2019 debut, Oh Really, What’s That Then? with this colossal selection of ten astronomically epic and exhilaratingly life affirming songs.
Having been introduced to the music of Jemma and co in 2019 by Ged Babey, the debut album appeared in my top ten albums of that year, and was a fixture on my turntable for some time. I finally got to experience the Jemma Freeman live show earlier this year when they played Broadcast with Glasgow’s very own Run Into The Night. To say I was blown away would be an understatement, Jemma puts on a show like no other, the notes Jemma can wrangle from a guitar are incredible, and the performance?Astonishing, nothing short of mesmerising.
The question for me when I see a band this good live, is always – can they match that vitality and energy on vinyl. In the case of Jemma Freeman and the Cosmic Something the answer is most definitely a resounding yes. Miffed is an extraordinary record from start to finish. From the gargantuan riffs at the start of Big Bread all the way through to the trippy psychedelic closing of Take Me, everything about Miffed has an unfettered sense of joyful escapism. The ten tracks here feel like an opportunity for both Jemma and the listener to experience a sense of liberation, to shrug off the shackles of life that weigh us down and bathe in the glory of the music. Going deeper into some of the lyrics and the personal challenges that have the potential to hold Jemma back, the songs and the vast soaring heroism in the music feel like Jemma raising a defiant and cathartic middle finger to the world in a show of ballsy chutzpah, as if to say, nothing you can throw at me will hold me back.
The first single from the album, Easy Peelers, is a great reference point for the rest of the album, a ball of furious energy, lyrics spat out machine gun style as Jemma furiously narrates a commentary on the state of the world in the 21st century and the culture of being offended by every comment made and the rise in the use of insults like snowflake. The album is packed full of gargantuan riffing, take opening track Big Bread as a case in point, bringing the thunder from the get go.
The fury of the huge riffing is balanced out across the album by songs like Lump, with an initial certain delicacy in the music and vocal delivery, don’t be under any illusion though, there is a strength within “its starting to feel strong, and its breathing and its raw, it won’t take it anymore”, the guitars swelling in a crescendo of defiance. This is a tale across the album, a balance of soul bearing lyrics and passionately emotional delivery mixed with searing guitar breaks and riffs, Scillian Mousse another case in point, which take things to the edge of overblown, but Jemma has the canny nous to know when enough is enough and ceases before things get too bombastic, the perfect blend of soulful and fabulously beguiling jubilation verging on enrapturement.
The guitars aren’t the only extraordinarily used instrument on the album, I can’t not highlight the incredible vocal range demonstrated on Miffed. Jemma has a phenomenal range, songs like I Thought Too Much taking her voice to almost falsetto levels, the epic song demonstrating their full range, their all encompassing vocal in this song verging on Kate Bush territory. Another example of Jemma and co throwing everything at a song, but knowing what is enough, gaining a perfect balance. And never does the vocal degenerate into that hideous warbling that so many singers who are graced with a great range feel they have to demonstrate.
The album is a joy to listen to, each listen bringing a new angle and discovery, Miffed is set to become a long time Ginger Quiff favourite. Immense.
Jemma Freeman and the Cosmic Something
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