Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane is Hooverphonic’s first concept album. The album’s lyrics are meant to illustrate the story of a woman named Jackie Cane becoming a star, which distances her emotionally from her sister. As she begins to become increasingly stressed, she decides to abandon her career and attempt to reconcile with her sister, only for a tragic Shakespearean twist to occur which ends the story. I won’t spoil what the surprise is.

Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane suffers from the same problem that most conceptual story albums do: the narrative is too loose. Finding lyrics that both fit the music and explain the story well isn’t a simple task, and if a listener wasn’t aware that Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane was a concept album prior to listening to it, they’d probably never realize there was a story here, let alone care. It’s not a great story, but I like how it went with the family emotional distance route as a problem resulting from stardom. It’s a little less cliche.

With that in mind, the story is forgettable, and it’s all about the music. This is similar to The Magnificent Tree in style. As a matter of fact, this is Hooverphonic at their “poppiest.” Geike Arnaert’s vocals are in top form here, which is great because the vocals are more at the front of the music than any earlier Hooverphonic album. In my opinion, Jackie Cane reaches its peak with the darker-toned second half of the album. That sound just seems more fitting for Hooverphonic. Maybe it’s because A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular is still my favorite album of theirs. I would also recommend it and Blue Wonder Power Milk as starting points for people wanting to check out the group, but its hard to imagine converted Hooverphonic not enjoying Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane to some extent.