Greenhorn is the studio side project from Roger Lima of Less Than Jake fame and this ‘I Want More’ EP sees him act as song writer, performer, and producer all in one go. He’s joined by friend Jen Vito here too, balancing out the vocals and giving the EP a fresh touch. However, and this perhaps isn’t surprising, you just can’t shake the feeling that these six tracks are just an extension of Less Than Jake’s studio efforts over the last few years.
‘My Own Way’, led by Jen, is a solid opening track that talks of putting the past behind you and striving for a brighter future. It’s driven, just like its message, yet feels quite safe in its approach. It’s three chord pop-punk with an easy to follow structure, semi-inspirational lyrics, and a slight shift in tempo for the chorus. You could level the same at ‘Always Be The same’ and ‘This Has To Mean Something’ too. These are good tracks but they just don’t leave you with a lingering memory or a really definitive moment. You long for a change in key or focus but instead the chorus will repeat and eventually the track plays out. That’s not to say this isn’t fun, and fourth track ‘Always Be The Same’ is probably the high point of the EP. It’s uplifting and slightly harder in the bridge. It’s still not exactly ground breaking though, no matter how hard we want it to be.
Credit should be given to the band’s UK label, Saint November, as the physical release is a colourful 10” vinyl complete with lyric sheet and protective cover. There’s still plenty of value to be found in offline formats and we wish that more labels could take the risk with them. Sadly that’s where the risks stopped with this EP and Greenhorn themselves have trodden a very safe path here.
It was always going to be easy to label Greenhorn as a Less Than Jake b-sides collection and unfortunately Lima has made those comparisons far too easy for us. Okay, so there isn’t that blast of a saxophone or the toot of a horn here, but those have become few and far between as it is. If you’ve enjoyed Less Than Jake these last few years then you’ll love Greenhorn. Ultimately though we need more from side projects for us to get excited and sadly this doesn’t leave us wanting more.
TOM BECK