Honess Jones delivers his debut EP ‘A Modern Guy’ on November 19th. An intriguing title in itself that tries to encapsulate a lot of what Jones is trying to say. It’s a manifesto, a social comment, a philosophy. There’s irony, there’s mystery, there’s identity and above all, the iconic presence of a frontman turned solo artist. After all, he first heard it as an Iggy Pop lyric. ‘Pop’ being the operative word.

With image seeming to take precedence more and more these days, imagery is equally important to Honess Jones. Finding himself in a world where the option to drastically change how we look and how we’re perceived is readily available, Jones has decided to take that quite literally at times. He’s equally aware that sex sells, but with certain visuals he wants to provide a level of art and artistry that can’t always be found in amongst an oversaturated landscape of visual stimulation. If you apply this same level of artistic consideration to the music and songwriting, you can see that when there’s no social commentary, there’s a level of poetry and romance.

A Modern Guy is a set of songs that represent the artistry and identity of Honess Jones from the ground up. Gritty, edgy, direct pop music. (Jones has coined the term MEAN POP, “Mean in walk, swagger and attitude, not exclusively aggression”. It's also the name of his label, something he envisages similar to The 1975’s Dirty Hit but harder hitting). It touches on everything from INXS to 90’s house, Madonna to George Michael, Peter Gabriel to Seal’s critically acclaimed first album. More modern influences include Christine & The Queens and Alex Cameron, Jungle and early Weeknd. There’s a rock n’ roll edge to it too. Jones grew up playing in rock n roll, bluesy, Stones-Doors-influenced bands which are still present. Whether it be within the melodic delivery or general performance, the role of frontman has always been prevalent.

Recorded out in Essex with producer Mitch Ayling, drummer of Indie-Soul band The Milk, there’s no lack of feel. You want to move to these songs. There’s a punch and a bite, enhanced by the mixes of Oliver Wright (Hot Chip, Jay Electronica) and mastering by John Davis (Gorillaz, Dua Lipa). A haunting atmosphere can be found woven into the instrumentation with Jones liking to provide distance through faraway synth lines and drones. This helps to lay down an underlying texture and foundation for the upfront nature of everything else. There’s aggression in the snares and the synths, perfectly matching the rawness and edge of Jones’ vocal delivery within the pop context that he chooses to walk around in. The songs are catchy, hooky and instantly recognisable. A Modern Guy is layered yet immediate, familiar yet Modern, a perfect introduction to Honess Jones.