Jakob The Liar’s debut EP feels like the start of a movement. ‘Wake Up Mr. Kupferberg’ lands with the force of someone who’s been through too much to say anything half-hearted. It’s personal, but not just for the sake of therapy. These are songs that look the listener in the eye and dare them to stay asleep.
The five singles that led up to the EP, including ‘H E A R T B E A T’ and ‘Paradigm $H!T’, already hinted at Jakob’s wide range and refusal to play it safe. But taken together, the EP adds weight to the story. This isn’t a scattershot attempt at showing range – it’s a document of survival, resistance, grief, and what comes next.
Jakob’s identity is everywhere in this record. Born from Polish/Jewish, German, and Russian roots, and raised between Denmark and the U.S., he doesn’t write from one place. His lyrics point fingers at the current state of the world while still leaving room for something softer – maybe even hopeful. The title nod to ‘Wake Up Mr. West’ isn’t just a clever line – it’s a challenge. Not to Kanye, but to everyone else. Wake up. Look around.
The EP feels like an opening chapter, not just to The Great Awakening (his upcoming LP), but to a broader message he’s just starting to deliver. What makes it hit harder is knowing he’s not playing a character. A decade of illness, the loss of his mother, and years of quiet struggle gave him the kind of perspective that can’t be faked.
Musically, there are clear influences – from Buckley’s emotional pull to the political urgency of Rage Against The Machine. But the way Jakob moves between styles shows that he’s not just borrowing sounds. He’s reshaping them into something unpredictable and sincere.
He’s throwing messages in bottles from the edge of something bigger. And ‘Wake Up Mr. Kupferberg’ is the first one that washed ashore.
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