Jakob The Liar carves protest into poetry on debut EP 'Wake Up Mr. Kupferberg'

In a cultural landscape often more preoccupied with surface than substance, 'Wake Up Mr. Kupferberg' arrives like a gut-punch to the passive listener. Jakob The Liar’s debut EP is equal parts tender and incendiary, a six-song statement feels like a dispatch from the front lines of both inner war and global unrest.

From the opening notes, there’s no mistaking the intensity at play here. Jakob balances storytelling with a palpable tension, threading melody and defiance through each track like barbed wire wrapped in velvet. The palette jumps from stripped-back vulnerability to all-out upheaval; think Damien Rice scoring a protest march, or early Muse with more dirt under the fingernails.

Standout track 'Paradigm $H!T' is a real explosion, tearing through complacency with the urgency of someone who’s watched the world fall apart in slow motion. Jakob spits, sings, and screams into the void, but never without precision. It’s a rallying cry for the disillusioned, and yet somehow, it still holds space for hope.

What makes this collection so compelling is its refusal to choose between contradiction and cohesion. Jakob leans into complexity, and in doing so, creates something that feels necessary. He sings like someone who’s tasted the end of things but still finds meaning in the mess.

And the title? A nod to beat poet, activist, and provocateur Tuli Kupferberg is no accident. Jakob is picking up the mantle in his own way, with a fresh fire lit by lived experience and unflinching honesty.

With 'Wake Up Mr. Kupferberg', Jakob The Liar steps forward as a conduit for something much bigger than himself. And if this is the beginning, the truth is, we need more liars like Jakob.