David Jacobson, a burgeoning musician who went to law school in Gainesville and currently lives in Boca Raton, released Come Around Again! last Wednesday. The five-track EP, his follow-up to May’s Delusions of Grandeur, is what happens when you trap the folk styles of Andrew Bird and Wilco, the front-porch tininess of country and the shimmering jingle of 80s pop in a bottle, add wavy distortion and record alone in your bedroom. The engineering is raw, with several of the tracks harboring the same grungy slick of a Neil Young-Crazy Horse jam. They drone—but not before snaring your interest with their energy. So when Jacobson falsettos, and the electric guitar screams, and the drums crash, and the acoustic guitar sounds like the wet smack of a fist on flesh from being strummed so vigorously, and the full body of the music fuses together and crashes like waves on drywall, you’re ready for it. And you stay with it. That description is becoming of the EP’s opening track, “Please Tell Me.” Close your eyes while you listen to it (but not while you drive): Do you see the open fields, the cows grazing by the fence line and the bits of sunset glistening through the trees yet? It’s great mood music. It’s perfect for a lonely highway. Jacobson’s lyrics can be elementary (particularly the latter half of “That’s Who I Am”), and the sound quality is average, like a video taken on cellphone. But I think these are elements that need to be overlooked on self-releases. Particularly when you have the ability to create a tunnel of sound the way Jacobson does. And when you can sing. On “OH! To Be!!” the young musician holds his high-pitch leap several times to the point that it feels Sam Cooke soulful. The songs also use a similar formula. Jacobson opens, usually, with an acoustic sound. He’ll fill the background with harmonica riffs, bursts of fiery guitar, and accentuate the energy until he explodes into an all-out jam that typically eats up the next 2-and-a-half minutes. What I like is its potential. You can explore daydreams (again, not while driving. Maybe this isn’t a long-home-drive-worthy album), slip into thoughts and appreciate moments with music that reaches with feeling instead of power or catchiness. Jacobson has created something pretty. He still has lots of room to grow, and that’s also exciting. This is a man who clearly takes away more from the music by just being there. Review By Zack Scout of thedropp.com