Bonnie & the Jets (Norway) – Naked (single/possible future album track)

Just for a fleeting moment I had a terrible image in my mind of Elton John with no clothes on. Fortunately it passed, before my dinner did.

(Incidentally did you know Highasakite got their name from Reg Dwight’s song ‘Rocket Man’? “And I’m gonna be high as a kite by then”. We’re full of useless information like that.

Bonnie & the Jets are out of Bjølsen, a pleasant looking suburb in north/central Oslo judging from the map on their Facebook page but further than I’ve ever dared to ride on Oslo’s scary trams. Now that isn’t far from Økern, home to Das Body, and I mention that for a reason.

That is because like Das Body, and Ask Carol, and the much missed Katzenjammer, and Real Ones, who we reviewed only last night they are different, and that counts a lot at Nordic Music Central.

It’s soul rock and you don’t often hear much of that these days. It’s like turning the clock back to the fifties.

Front woman Caroline (‘Bonnie’) Bonnet offers the raw power of a Nordic Aretha or Etta as she battles a particularly powerful but tuneful bass line in a song that has to be kept on a leash lest it jumps the fence and scampers off into the night.

‘Naked’ roughly falls into the same philosophical arena as Shania Twain’s ‘That don’t impress me much’ as Bonnie sarcastically calls out those that think they have greater ‘value’ than anyone else because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if “you’re rich or poor, what car you own or how many goals you score”…

…you were born naked and that’s the way you’ll go, and in between you will be judged by your personal worth, not your personal wealth.

Verging on an ‘Emperor’s new clothes’ scenario in fact.

And for that very reason there is nothing flashy about the song either. Basic rock instrumentation played with basic riffs, no fancy showboating; just raw energy.

You can’t beat it.

Bonne & the Jets are:

Caroline Bonnet: Lead vocals

Dagfin Hjorth Hovind – guitar

Alf Magne Hillestad – drums

Kristian Wentzel – keyboards

Johanna Dahl Bryne – backing vocals

Haldor Haug Knutsen – bass

Their second full-length album is due out in October and I see they have two UK dates, on 23^rd and 24^th August at Leicester and Wokingham respectively, with possibly another one before it on the 22nd. See their website for details and tickets.

Find them on:

Website: https://www.bonnieandthejets.no/