Comedic poet and activist Jim E. Brown is a poet and activist, but not in your most traditional sense. The always “19-year-old” comedic artist from Manchester writes poems about how awful it is to live in modern-day Britain and why he has turned to alcohol for his only solace. Sometimes he shouts monologues like a slam poet channelling punk rock energy. Most of the time, his music falls between Talking Heads, The Cure, and Bob Dylan if Bob made ’80s elevator rock with a saxophone.
I am obsessed. I’ve lived in Essex in the UK all my life, and frankly, this country is horribly depressing. Between ragebait protests, failing services, a general gaslighting of the public, and the cost-of-living crisis, it’s grim. Jim E. Brown is able to provide Northern observational humour in a way that Victoria Wood has a knack of doing, but in 2025, Jim’s observations are entirely miserable. Let’s enjoy the topics of choice…
Song titles include:
- The Queue at Greggs
- Mice Have Butten Holes Into All My Childhood Toys
- My Entire Life Is Utter Bilge
- I Am at My Happiest When I’m Unconscious
- How Do I Stop Crying When I Masturbate?
- I Found a Dead Fox Outside Sainsbury’s in Fallowfield
- I’m A Pre-Diabetic
- Post Traumatic Stress from my KFC Experience is Constantly Affecting My Mood and Overall Health
- I’m Eating Crisps in Bed
- I Ate A Valium at the Great Central Wetherspoons on Wilmslow Road
The general vibe is that if it’s to do with terrible British cuisine, pub life, and being poor and miserable, Jim E. Brown is likely to do a song about it. Although he has a new album coming out on Friday, it’s a song from his 2024 album ‘The Sky Is Ugly’ that has just received a music video. The track is called “I’m About to Fall Over in ASDA’ and sings of having a nervous breakdown at the pointlessness of it all. “My heart is filled with melancholy. I’m in ASDA pushing my trolley. I can’t let strangers see my tears. I just want to buy sausage and beer.” The poetry writes itself. The music often flips between 80s synthwave and synthpop to a sluggish 80s pop-rock.
This is quintessential British (specifically Northern) humour at its finest. Enjoy your supermarket breakdown with the music video ofJim on the floor and sitting in a supermarket trolley in ASDA. What true poetic rapture from this 19-year-old…
For more information about all things Jim E. Brown, including ordering his forthcoming album ‘I Urinated on a Butterfly’, visit Jim’s Bandcamp.
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