Culture
Jake Dunn channels heartland rock and Appalachian melancholy on new solo EP ‘Kinda Like a Dream’
By: Emily Votaw
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – You may already know Jake Dunn as the lead vocalist of Jake Dunn & The Blackbirds, a band that’s been blending the rip-roaring enthusiasm of classic bar rock with rootsy, country-leaning introspection since 2016.
On his first solo EP, Kinda Like a Dream, released today, Dunn dives even deeper into that same sonic swimming hole. When he resurfaces, he brings with him a fresh set of songs that pulse with the earnest, anthemic spirit of heartland rock—tinged with the rusty melancholy of a post-industrial Midwest where an Appalachian high-lonesome twang still echoes through the hollows.
Written during the pandemic and recorded with producer Neil Tuuri at Amish Electric Chair Studios, Kinda Like a Dream carries the sooty angst and surreal solitude of its time.
Fittingly, the opening track, Charades, captures that uneasy state. It wells up with the sensation of being trapped inside one’s own head, caught in repetition, yet still searching for a way forward. A lonesome guitar—equal parts Americana and classic rock—rings out with crooked grace, bending toward sorrow without surrendering to it.
If Charades is about stasis, Keep On Keepin’ On searches for motion. Its jangly, new wave-meets-alternative country groove recalls The Jayhawks’ under-appreciated 2003 gem, Rainy Day Music.
All of these instincts culminate on the anthemic title track—the EP’s undeniable centerpiece. A hard-charging, cinematic sensibility propels the song forward, evoking a blend of Gin Blossoms-esque grunge and country music heartache. Midway through, Dunn delivers the record’s finest guitar solo: rhythmic, lyrical, and refreshingly unshowy.
She’s Gone shifts into quieter territory, its tone subdued yet unflinching. The guitars brood while the rhythm section breathes, never dragging its heels.
The closer, Still Breathing, brings things full circle. If Charades paced the confines of its cage, restless and uncertain, this track finds acceptance within that confinement—worn down but wiser for the struggle.
At just five songs, Kinda Like a Dream is compact yet lived-in, the work of an artist who knows exactly who he is. It’s Dunn’s most personal project to date—proof not only that he understands himself as a songwriter, but that he fully grasps the purpose of making music: to entertain, to connect, and to offer listeners a momentary reprieve from the impossible and never-ending task of squaring the immovable fact of the past with the unstoppable lurch forward of the future.