Jake Minch’s New Album George Is Sticking To Our Fingers And Clothes
Jake Minch, a Gen Z Connecticut native, has solidified himself as a songwriter to watch, with a catalogue of poetic, aching songs that capture the sting of growing up, loving, and losing.
Citing Phoebe Bridgers, Bon Iver, and Lizzy McAlpine as musical inspirations, his masterful lyricism makes it immediately clear that he could be the next indie darling. If five years without a Phoebe Bridgers album has left a hole in your heart, Jake Minch might be the one to fill it.
If you peruse his TikTok, where he’s amassed almost 100K followers to date, you’ll find dozens of what at first glance appear to be simple videos of just him, sitting down, playing music acoustically. Click on one of the videos, and you’ll be instantly struck by the hypnotizing cadence of his guitar—and the earnest boy behind it, singing the most devastating lyrics you’ve ever heard like it’s just another Tuesday for him. The boyish attitude and quiet self-consciousness present in each scroll only make him more lovable.
His TikTok popularity is one of the reasons why his most played song to date, handgun, found the popularity it did, followed by an EP and subsequent singles full of those heartwrenching lyrics and atmospheric guitars he’s quickly becoming known for. And true to form, his debut album George is chock-full of even more lethal lyrics in the same vein, infusing confessional, raw songwriting with feelings of nostalgia and longing to create a piece of art that feels kind of like your older brother is singing to you about all the ways things went wrong for him.
The album opens with Nostalgia Act, starting with a strong guitar and even stronger lyrics as Jake sings “Every time I’m back here it’s smaller / every run’s like a victory act.” From the first song, we learn that this is an album for the kids who have left their hometown and feel some kind of way about all they’ve left behind. The song ends with the line, “Oh what a dangerous feeling / to know what it’s like to really want something,” succinctly setting the tone for the rest of the album.
Drawing a Tattoo and Fingers and Clothes, the singles from the album, sound even better (if that’s even possible) slotted into the full story of the album. “There’s a person who stays, and a person who leaves,” from Drawing a Tattoo (accompanied by backing vocals from Alix Page), seems to summarise the theme of the entire project. Lines like “Four years and you’re still not over it / For something that was shorter than a cigarеtte” and “And I need you morе and more / ‘Cause I feel you less and less” of Fingers and Clothes demonstrate why this song quickly rose to one of his most popular upon its release.
And understanding what Dad’s Song, the fifth song on the album, is about—as Jake described it in a TikTok video, “I spent a lot of time trying to follow in [my dad’s] footsteps, but his footsteps led to suicide, and I found that out at nineteen”—makes it a difficult yet at times soothing listen as the singing alternates between quiet and something almost like yelling. It’s hard not to wish you could step into the world of the album and hug the singer.
As the album continues, it’s clear that Jake is slowly easing listeners into the project’s most heartbreaking songs and lines. It’s almost like you’re a frog in boiling water (said with love, of course) — by the time you hear “you weren’t mean on purpose, you were scared.” on Unicef or “You know me more than I do, still / And it only haunts me now” on First I Was, it’s too late to save yourself from being sliced open by those lyrics and ones that are yet to come. Like any songwriter worth his salt, Jake is immensely talented at creating songs that blend the hyperspecific with the uncomplicated you wish you thought to write first. And it’s those simple lyrics that cut the deepest — “Oh, it’s crazy, I was living for the two of us / Then I met you, and I hurt you that bad.”
Say Uncle is a much-needed upbeat interlude between two of arguably the saddest songs on the album, described by Jake as a song about grabbing someone by the shoulders and saying “I know you are gay and you have a crush on me and I am either going to hear you say it out loud or am I going to shake you until you do.” It’s easy to imagine how fun this one will be to sing on Jake Minch’s upcoming U.S. tour in August—the repeated “Say Uncle” with the guitar strumming, of course, but also “You can slow down, baby, I’m not leaving ’til I hear it / Come on, come on now!”
After that, the tone returns to sombre with Changed Things, a song about feeling like you’ve abandoned someone by leaving home. Teased in TikTok videos and lives and becoming a fan favourite before its release, upon full listen it’s no surprise why it’s resonated (and will surely continue to resonate) with so many older siblings. It’s hard not to tear up when you hear Jake’s solemn voice sing, “I have this dream where I am back at the old house / And I am running upstairs, and I am getting you out.”
Continuing on the album’s theme of staying versus leaving, For Leaving feels like a plea, an apology, and a confession all wrapped into one. The musical tone of the song matches the emotional conflict in the lyrics, switching between soft and acoustic to resonant and intense and back again. It’s this song that holds some of the strongest writing on the album, with lyrics like “All my enemies, all have held a mirror to me / And I’m sorry / I thought I was ready to be seen” in the first verse,” and “I was out there trying to make my life / And you said I was clipping your wings” in an intense bridge.
The last song on the album, Twice, perfectly closes the album. It’s short in length, but that doesn’t make it any less emotionally resonant than the others. It’s also the one Jake has said he’s proudest of, and the opening lyric “I’m not the kind of guy / To watch the same movie twice / But I watch us over / And over” along with everything that follows solidifies George as a record you’ll want to listen to much more than twice.
This is an album meant to be listened to alone in your first apartment, sitting in the dark with headphones on, or driving through the backroads of your hometown over Christmas break. For the ones that left and think about it all the time—whether that’s a place or a person—Jake Minch has written an album you won’t be album to get out of the deepest recesses of your head and your heart.
