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Album Review: Toby and the Whole Truth - Look Out! Vol. 2 (2025)

  • Writer: Stuart Ball
    Stuart Ball
  • 22 hours ago
  • 5 min read
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Written: 6th September 2025


During 2024, Toby Jepson – under the moniker of Toby and the Whole Truth - announced a trio of mini-albums that would make up a trilogy entitled Look Out! Following the release of Vol.1 (see my review here) in November 2024, the next in the series continues to focus, in Jepson’s words, on, “my personal journey through mental health challenges but this time, you may sense a subtle shift. As I moved through the chaos of bitter regret and intense feelings of shame and anger, the guided therapy I received at the hands of my wonderful therapist began to shine a light on the truth.”


As with the first volume, Look Out! Vol. 2 begins with a spoken word introduction (a transcript of which is included in the accompanying booklet from Jepson explaining how the songs came to be and what they mean in the larger context of his mental health. “The stories contained in these seven new songs are (for the most part) the conclusions I drew from the realisations that blossomed and helped me navigate from the darkness into a breathtakingly soft light — one that, for the first time in many years, gave me a sense of peace and calm.”


Opening track (Don’t Wanna Be A) Rock ‘n’ Roll Star is an upbeat rocker that is imbued with Jepson’s trademark enthusiastic delivery. Rattling along with an effervescent verve, it will take mere moments for listeners to start tapping their foot and be drawn to the infectious hooks. Lyrically, it is, “a tongue-in-cheek exploration of my true feelings about the nonsense of what a ‘rock star’ even means.” Mocking the mythology of rock stardom and exposing the emptiness beneath the glamour, Jepson uses confessional humour to highlight the disillusionment that comes with the pursuit of fame. Could you go the distance? / Slave at their insistence / To watch it all get frittered away? A vibrant start to Vol. 2, it is well positioned on the mini-album.



Some People Are Trash builds steadily as the initial part of the track unfolds. Guitar is first joined by percussion and a pulsing bass line and ultimately keyboards - from Jepson’s long time collaborator Dave Kemp – as the track ignites as a high-voltage but lyrically dark mantra. With almost every line in the song lyrically built on the relentless repetition of Some people…. , the chant drives home its critique of hypocrisy and corruption in the music business. Some people got a face that don't suit / Some people wanna stick in the boot / Some people live their life on the lash / Some people some people are trash. It drips with a cool defiance and oozes attitude – Sam Wood’s solo included - and highlight’s Jepson’s ability to wrap a song tinged with lyrical venom within a swaggering, irresistibly catchy groove.


Jepson states that Strong Enough is him “reflecting on my own inadequacies and feelings of utter powerlessness.” With a memorable chorus that digs under the skin quickly, we find that within the deep melancholy, there is increasing celebration of the small wins in life. He addresses the question of whether true strength lies in control, surrender, or acceptance of failure. Shelter the flame / Of ignorance / Applaud confusion / Burn all the books / That free the speech / Of revolution. Wrapped in energetic and propulsive music, the contrast sharpens the theme: powerlessness becomes strangely empowering, turning despair into defiance.


Considering some of the gems that Jepson has penned in the past, the fact that he calls Falling in Love is Harder (Than You Could Ever Prepare Your Heart For), “probably the best song I’ve ever written," shows just how much the track means to him. Bringing down the tempo from the previous three songs, it opens with a tender piano that immediately signals that we are being offered something different from the rest of the album, promising a more intimate and emotionally nuanced experience. It captures the all-consuming intensity of early love while also confronting mortality with courage and tenderness. When I met you, nothing else mattered / Saw a future dreams were scattered / It felt so distant, it did not plague me / Too busy falling in love completely ….. But when the curtain finally calls me / I will not let go, I will not go easy / You should know the love you gave me / Was the only thing that ever saved me.  Toby Jepson delivers a gorgeous vocal performance, complemented by thoughtful background percussive embellishments, and quiet, reflective moments alongside gorgeous crescendos which amplify vulnerability, devotion, and the bittersweet awareness of passing time; the track is a deeply moving highlight of the album.


Both Nothing To See Here – which examines the shallow compulsion towards the internet and social media - and Before I Break – conveying frustration with societal injustice and human selfishness - ramp up the intensity once more. It is a duo of sub-four minute no-nonsense rockers, the latter of which sits somewhere between Jepson’s work with Wayward Sons and that with Little Angels: the shrieked last note of Before I Break is certainly reminiscent of that much missed band. Following the deep, reflective introspection of Falling in Love is Harder (Than You Could Ever Prepare Your Heart For), the horns of Dave Kemp, Stuart Wilkinson and Ian Chalk add a wonderful flamboyance to Before I Break and George Hall’s string arrangements (and some chunky riffs) add a different dimension to Nothing To See Here. 


Despite its four minute running time, Creeping Up Slowly has the feel of a longer epic. Jepson’s voice is as good as it has ever been and he unerringly adapts tone and timbre to suit the style of each song. The quiet acoustic opening is one of the most beautiful moments to be found here. A little before the two minute mark, the track begins to open up and the subtle percussion from Matt Elridge adds a delightful and expansive warmth to the overall atmosphere. It ends the album in thoughtful contemplation with lyrics that illuminate loss and longing, painting absence and memory against the inexorable current of time,  the river imagery casting grief as both powerful and lingering. The dawn came creeping like the river of my memory / Another day without you / My body’s old and tired of being lonely / How I’m aching for you / And like a river it's creeping up slowly / The drowning water so high.


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Look Out! Vol. 2 demonstrates Toby Jepson’s continued creative confidence, allowing the music to dictate its own flow with striking honesty. He comments, “I admit, it is an intense collection, but I can’t help it. The songs dictated the terms to me — I really had no choice. Ultimately, though, they are just songs, and I sincerely hope you find something within them that resonates with your own life.” The album’s intensity is handled with skill, balancing moments of reflection and restraint against energetic propulsive passages, creating a dynamic and engaging listening experience. Jepson’s vocal performance is consistently assured, adapting to the emotional and musical demands of each passage. It is an album that feels alive, immediate and uncompromising, rewarding repeated listening.


Within the broader Look Out! trilogy, Vol. 2 confirms Jepson’s willingness to take risks and embrace unpredictability, offering a work that is far from formulaic and always purposeful, thus reflecting his maturity as a songwriter and performer. It will be particularly interesting to see how Vol. 3 completes the trilogy and ultimately how all twenty songs play together as a full cohesive collection. Having followed Toby Jepson since first seeing him in Little Angels in 1989, Vol. 2 solidifies his reputation as an artist unafraid to confront personal and musical challenges, creating a compelling, thought-provoking and enduring addition to his inspiring body of work.



Look Out! Vol. 2 is officially released 1st October but is already available from Toby Jepson's official website: https://shop.tobyjepsonofficial.com/collections/look-out-toby-and-the-whole-truth


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