Jesse LeBourdais – Better Ever Than Never

Jesse Lebourdais last album ‘Grief, Intensity, Friendship’ was born out of those three things in particular, and it was not as darkness driven as it sounded, it’s more making joy out of sadness. That was nearly a decade ago, and now he is back with his fifth album and the broken soul is still in there, but once again this is an album that takes all the negatives and tries to draw strength and bonds from it all.  ‘Better Ever Than Never’ is a collection of songs that take life for all its up and downs and sets them to uplifting moments in time.

Jesse has always been known for his folk punk sound and this album takes all of that five album history and draws out some of the best of it all, ‘Half Broken Soul’, which was released as a first single, has a full on fight against the darkness with the bonds of people around you feel. This is a track that lifts you up and out of the gutter, it explodes musically and is reminiscent of Roughneck Riot to my ear. The first of the two solo guitar ballads of the album comes in the form of ‘Hold You Down’ which is a song to someone who you have had to let go of to show just how much you love them. I’m a sucker for a song that’s written and performed like this one, it has so much ‘life lived in’ at its core. The other being the final track ‘Worst Day’, this is a lament to someone who’s time in the world has ended, this like the best eulogy you’ve ever listened to, the feeling and sentiment in here is unmistakable thats for sure.

What comes across most in this album is the use of a much more guitar led punk rock sound than the folk/punk he is known for, it reminds of how Frank Turner moved foreword when he brought in the Sleeping Souls, lyrically its the same, but the music drives harder and faster more often, this shows in songs like ‘Better Ever Than Never’, ‘Chains’, ‘Spare Parts’, ‘Wood Bones’ which all take you to a Gaslight Anthem place. If you had to take a song that sums up where Jesse is at in this album and possibly has always been, ‘Bottom Of The Well’ has to be it. Why fight against where you are always going to be in life, but why not embrace it and make it into something uplifting and somehow special. ‘Better Ever Than Never’ is that kind of this album in its entirety.

‘Better Ever Than Never’ is due out on the 21st April via Kinda Cool Records and you can find Jesse Lebourdais‘ Website here and you can check his previous releases via Bandcamp.