JACK PEÑATE with MIIKE SNOW at Wrongbar (1279 Queen West), Wednesday (September 23), 9 pm. $18.50. 416-870-8000.
Call him the comeback kid. Despite hitting the UK charts with 2007’s Matinée, Jack Peñate’s debut disc got a chilly reception from critics who pegged his brand of guitar pop “the male equivalent of Kate Nash.”
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Luckily, Peñate was able to ride out the critical scorn to deliver a more interesting follow-up in June – the aptly titled Everything Is New (XL).
Now the famously fickle UK press can’t get enough of the 25-year-old English singer/songwriter and his newly eclectic sound.
“It was frustrating back then because I knew I could do something better,” he says on the phone from New York, “but until you’ve got the record to prove it, no one else knows that.
“Between the two records, I matured, travelled and learned a huge amount about production and recording.”
The music of Fela Kuti and Talking Heads also helped Peñate take his sound to the next level.
“David Byrne is one of my favourite vocalists. His voice is hugely expressive and full of feeling.”
Peñate, who will bring a four-piece backing band to Wrongbar for his Toronto debut, isn’t content to plateau.
“I’m a solo artist, and as such I should be constantly changing and surprising my audience. My voice is growing, and on the next record it’ll probably change again.
“I don’t mind being underestimated,” he laughs. “It’s actually not such a bad thing.”
music@nowtoronto.com
