Single Review: Jake Bugg’s ‘Fire’

Jake Bugg’s “Fire” belongs in a post-apocalyptic video game like “Fallout.”

Because when the world finally dines upon its own innards for the last time, you’d hope a song like this is one of the only things left.

Hauntingly beautiful, the 18-year-old Bugg’s simple guitar work and heart on a sleeve lyrics and vocals prove that fantastic music doesn’t need bells and whistles.

It just needs soul. Something this song is filled to the brim with. Ironically enough, this song was recorded on Bugg’s iPhone. There’s no reverb, no fancy studio work. Bugg is just a dude with a guitar and a story to tell.

He doesn’t have pink hair or six-pack abs either. There’s nothing remotely marketable about him. Well, except his musical ability. But where looks and image count, the youngster has it in spades. With his Johnny Cash aura and Noel Gallagher looks, there’s a reason why British gals love the kid.

Soon the teenage girls, well at least the smart ones, in the states will push Justin Bieber to the curb for someone who can actually hold his own with an instrument.

At one minute and 44 seconds, “Fire” is a relic of 50s and 60s rock/pop, draped in the love of the stylings of Bob Dylan Richie Valens and Buddy Holly. The scratchy, opening makes the listener feel like one of the aforementioned artists’ records is about to start.

You wouldn’t be too far off.

Check the song out below:

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14318 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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