⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ – 4.5 Stars
It’s a scary thought to think we’re leisurely drifting towards the 20th anniversary of Jamie T’s debut album, ‘Panic Prevention’.
Two decades on from a record that sounded like it was written in the streets, bedrooms, pubs and clubs of London, Jamie Treays (Known as Jamie T) is still refusing to sit neatly inside one box. Which is exactly what he does best.
Genre-blurring in indie music wasn’t as prevalent in 2007 as it is in 2026, but Jamie T has always forged his own space. Somewhere that scrappy guitars sit between hip-hop, punk, ska, electronic production and his conversational tone.
Alongside artists like The Streets, he’s always proved that indie music doesn’t have to be just guitars, bass and drums.
Sometime after Treays’ last album (The Theory of Whatever), he began recording hundreds of voice notes that captured fragments of songs or poetry. Eventually landing on the birth of the album we have before us today, ‘Ghosts (100 Days of Morning)’.
It wasn’t all plain sailing however, the songs seemed to come in remnants during a particularly difficult period for the South London artist.
In summer 2023, he turned his attention away from album writing, and focussed on his biggest show to date at London’s Finsbury Park. In search of therapy for the severe panic attacks that plague him ahead of live performances, Treays turned his attention towards Paul Weller’s ‘2000 Live at the Royal Albert Hall Days of Speed’ album.
He learned every song and recorded them as his own. Falling on a song called Ghosts by The Jam, which he had never heard, he recorded an urgent, pacy version of his own that triggered the real birth of this album.
“I can get very jaded,” he says. “I found myself connecting with emotion that was untethered to other parts of my life. It was honest, naive, it was full of optimism and imagination. I know this sounds incredibly corny, but it’s what I love music for – and what I originally loved music for – the way it makes me feel inside; strong, powerful. As just a singular nobody living on this earth, I feel like I’m in control of my life, you know?”
From here, a solo trip to Siena triggered him to listen to the forgotten voice notes for the first time in years. Re-writing them to become his sixth studio album.
Opener ‘3310‘, named after its Nokia namesake leads the path for the rest of the album. “I want to be your status symbol” resonates during the chorus, as the intensity in the track builds. Building into the rap/hip hop sound we all familiarise with Jamie T, ‘Cocktail’ picks up the pace with some vibrant guitar strums. It’s also worth noting that icon Damon Albarn helped with the writing of this track.
On ‘Waist 36 Leg 32‘ Treays reflects on the current landscape of masculinity in a self-deprecating manner, chanting “Ghosts, they follow you” in the chorus. ‘All I Wanna See Is Now‘ shifts the mood into one of melancholic confessions, as the atmospheric layers take control.
Sticking with the tense atmosphere, ‘The Won‘ combines that soothing atmosphere with reflection and pondering thoughts. As it comes to a close, the mix dulls out and the vocals isolate. This is followed up with ‘Chelsea Girls‘ a half sung, half spoken nostalgic anthem that focuses on a British culture that’s become warped by tabloid outrages, hysteria and overdramatised headlines.
Now comes the aforementioned ‘Ghosts‘ cover. Naturally, it’s a lot faster and more conversational in tone, but deep down it’s retained that tenderness and vulnerability that Weller draws upon. Sticking on the cover theme, he also takes on Tommy James & the Shondells ‘Crimson and Clover‘. This version sits somewhere in the middle ground of the original and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts version.
‘Crucible‘ acts a dreamy pop love ballad, which continues into the piano-led ‘Caught Cheating‘. The latter sounding like a man coming to terms with their mistakes and difficult memories.
Sampling Canadian folk singer Leif Vollebekk’s song of the same name, Tallahasse, brings this fantastic album into a brilliant close. It name-checks pop cultural icons like Lily Allen and Paul Heaton, before Jamie T labels himself a “plagiarist”.
If you come to this album looking for the Jamie T of 20 years ago, you’ll come away finding a lot more. He’s now a 40 year old singer/writer of over 20 years songwriting experience.
This feels more personal and delicate than albums of old, but that’s not to mean the undoubted talent that shines through. Everyone has ‘Ghosts’ they aim to keep at arms length from themselves, but Jamie Treays has wrapped his into an emotional but uplifting sixth studio album.
Written by Brad Halcrow for The Songbird HQ