Self Release [Release date 24.10.25]

‘10Ft Squared’ is the perfect introduction to Jimmy Owen, a guitar driven, singer-songwriter and restless artistic spirit, who straddles prog, fusion, Californian tinged soft rock, pop and unexpectedly the blues.

It’s a mini album or EP if you prefer, full of twists and turns which explores a unique aesthetic, spanning eerie tones, poetic lyrics, real feel and occasional deep grooves.

The exploratory approach means it isn’t until the last track – the suitably titled ’Meant To Be’ – that he reverts to his previous Wolf Moon musical persona.

Driven by Erik Stams’s insistent shuffled percussion, the track gives the EP a melodic finish.

Owen’s gentle vocal just about rises above the band accompaniment and his own chiming guitars, on a song carried by a west coast sweep and shot through with Eric Johnson influenced tremulous guitar work.

The 6 track musical journey opens with a nod to David Gilmour (and fleetingly Steve Hillage in its spicier moments), and is never too far removed from an Eric Johnson fusion influence.

In between the Gilmour/Johnson axis, there’s much to admire, including the truly outstanding cover of ‘Wichita Lineman’.

Jimmy nails a career best vocal and adds a magical solo on a beautifully arranged track that seeks to voice the inexpressible and comes close!

It’s a brave step to try and capture the essence of a haunting, and some might say, a sad, and profound love song, but he triumphs on his own terms, in a case of: “Owen spinning his own Webb!”

‘Wichita Lineman’ is anchored by a lovely understated rhythmic accompaniment from Erik Stams on drums and Noah Nelson on bass, while Owen makes his guitar tone ache, weep and moan along with some luscious slide.

And when he reaches the iconic line “I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time”, he pours all his accumulated emotion into a subsequent defining guitar solo that reaches for the stars.

The opening ethereal title track features some Gimour style guitar over a synth generated wall of sound. It flows into intricately woven guitar lines, on a slowly evolving progression which acts as an overture.

He switches to Eric Johnson mode on ‘Everybody Needs A Hero’, which is a maelstrom of contrasting tones and organ driven energy, leading to some belated crunching riffage and another sudden void.

And as you dig deeper into the EP, you get the feeling that Owen is subtly unravelling his musical armoury, particularly so on a reworked version of his March released single ‘Plastic Fruit (Re-imagined)’.

Buoyed by a lovely acoustic-into-electric wash full of jangling tones and a post Nick Drake vocal, he conjures up an impressionistic piece, neatly tied up in some poetic lyrics and uplifting music: “Just stay with me here a while, Beauty can′t blind you from afar, So hold that desire in your heart, A lie don’t always need the truth, Those trees bare plastic fruit.”

The song finishes with a quasi mission statement: “Hear my words, Do what you can, Avoid the herd.”

He does precisely that by pursuing a 70’s west coast feel, shot through with fusion guitar which melts into a beautifully nuanced outro, on a trademark Jimmy Owen finish.

He broadens his musical palette on ‘Time And Time Again’, a muscular blues outing featuring special guest Lindsey Bonnick (late of Brave Rival), who works hard to nail emotive feel.

A combination of an opening heavy-duty guitar figure and additional voicings, plus Bonnick’s animated vocals over cool bv’s almost clutters the track, until it drops down for an angular guitar solo and an Emily Francis B3 solo.

Everything bubbles up nicely into a second solo featuring a piercingly phased Zappa-esque tone which edgily evokes the fractured relationship lyrical narrative.

Jimmy Owen’s ’10 Ft Squared’ is a well conceived, emotionally charged and superbly played release, and represents an important step forward for a technically gifted guitarist with songs on his mind. ****

Review by Pete Feenstra

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Power Plays w/c 1 December 2025

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