Recommended Tracks: “Drawing a Tatoo,” “For Leaving,” “Dad’s Song”
Artists You Might Like: Kevin Atwater, Shallow Alcove, Grace Gardner
It’s a quiet, soft place to lose yourself a bit — to disappear for a while — just enough to mess things up a little. On Jake Minch‘s debut album, George, the singer-songwriter explores reckoning with identity, loneliness and self-inflicted wounds in a place that can magnify them all. It follows the 22-year-old as he grows up and leaves home, embarking on a new journey of guilt and growth that reveals his vulnerability across all 12 tracks.
“George is about my two years in LA and my experience falling victim to my ‘middle-of-the-country-syndrome,’” says Jake. “It’s about being a martyr with nothing to die for and needing to fuck up some great things in order to see that.”
The album opens with the emotional and bittersweet “Nostalgia Act,” which truly sets the tone for the whole album. Like a letter in a diary, the song focuses on returning to his hometown or past life and all the feelings it brings. He paints a picture of someone coming back to a familiar place and with psychedelics and half-asleep conversations, Minch sets the stage for a dreamlike state of mind. But it’s more than that — it’s a vulnerable reckoning with unresolved first love. He sings, “I never said I loved you / I didn’t have to.” The heightened cinematic imagery is evident on “Drawing a Tattoo” (“Drawing a tattoo / Hands like a bird”), where he adds warmth, some guitars and a tender vulnerability that cuts deep. Ultimately, he finds there’s no other choice but to leave.
By seeing someone he loves do something terrible to someone else he loves and feeling guilty on “Fucked Up” — a haunting reflection on guilt, accountability and emotional consequences. It’s an emotional pull not just for what you’ve done, but for what you might have set in motion. Minch frames the song around the idea that karma doesn’t always come directly for you—it comes for the people you love. It’s later on “Fingers and Clothes” that he uses his bad cigarette habit as a metaphor for his love life — the pull of old habits and the quiet, self-sabotaging ways we can ruin something new.
Minch faces a deep vulnerability, like losing his father, on “Dad’s Song,” a track that captures how absence lingers and changes your life. Probably the most vulnerable he’s been throughout the album so far, Minch remembers emotional patterns he shares with his dad — disappearing when things get hard, craving love but pulling away. He ultimately deals with the fact that he may be becoming more like his father than he cares to admit. He sings, “Mom started telling me I’m getting your eyes / After she told me the way that you died / I find solace in making a promise / I think I’m breaking in slower forms of me.
Minch learns two very different but important lessons about identity on “Unicef” and “First I Was.” On “Unicef,” he captures the messy, confusing experience of growing up and how we often fumble rather than thrive in moments of immense pain and vulnerability. The lyrics mix vivid, relatable imagery (“learn to drive a friend’s car,” “earnin’ coins for UNICEF,” “buyin’ an Xbox”) with emotional honesty. On the other hand, “First I Was” sees him explore phases of identity — how long can challenge and expose us.
He soon grieves his past life on “Changed Things” and “For Leaving.” On “Changed Things,” Minch turns back toward his guitar and focuses on how addiction and your changing family dynamics can ultimately alter relationships and lives. A reminder that innocence fades and struggles take hold, Minch tries to find some hope here. He sings, “I have this dream where I am back at the old house / And I am running up those stairs, I am getting you out / You are ten years old, and I put you on my back / With a birthday bag.” Despite trying to protect his siblings, he ultimately grieves somebody while standing right in front of them on “For Leaving.”
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