Brian Vander Ark - "Brian Vander Ark"
I have been a fan of Brian Vander Ark's music since first hearing "photograph" (from the Verve Pipe's major label debut, "villains"), on the radio many years ago . On his new self-titled CD (his third solo CD), I think he has put out the best album of his career. Opening with the instrumental, "we heard, we saw", the set up is there for an epic singer-songwriter journey, and that's what we get on the 11 tracks that follow.
Brian has always utilized his personal life in his lyrical storytelling, but for some reason it resonates even more here. It's taken me a while to put my finger on why, and the best I can come up with is that the album sounds more organic...not one note of the music sounds superfluous...for example, on, "angel, put your face on" (his previous studio album), there was a beautiful string section on some of the album, but I think ultimately it distracted from the songs themselves, and made them too "slick" sounding (for lack of a better word). I suspect at least some credit for this goes to producer Bill Szymczyk (The Who, Eagles, B.B. King). When extra instrumentation does appear on this album, it's there to supplement the feeling of the song, not dominate or become the emphasis of the song.
The other thing I keep coming back to with this album, is while it doesn't sound much like a Paul Simon (or even a Simon & Garfunkel) album, I feel like Brian has captured the feel of a Paul Simon album. I'm not sure if I can explain that better, but it is definitely a compliment.
I can go on and on with the accolades, but if you want to hear a really strong singer/songwriter album, let me highly recommend, "Brian Vander Ark".
www.brianvanderark.com
I have been a fan of Brian Vander Ark's music since first hearing "photograph" (from the Verve Pipe's major label debut, "villains"), on the radio many years ago . On his new self-titled CD (his third solo CD), I think he has put out the best album of his career. Opening with the instrumental, "we heard, we saw", the set up is there for an epic singer-songwriter journey, and that's what we get on the 11 tracks that follow.
Brian has always utilized his personal life in his lyrical storytelling, but for some reason it resonates even more here. It's taken me a while to put my finger on why, and the best I can come up with is that the album sounds more organic...not one note of the music sounds superfluous...for example, on, "angel, put your face on" (his previous studio album), there was a beautiful string section on some of the album, but I think ultimately it distracted from the songs themselves, and made them too "slick" sounding (for lack of a better word). I suspect at least some credit for this goes to producer Bill Szymczyk (The Who, Eagles, B.B. King). When extra instrumentation does appear on this album, it's there to supplement the feeling of the song, not dominate or become the emphasis of the song.
The other thing I keep coming back to with this album, is while it doesn't sound much like a Paul Simon (or even a Simon & Garfunkel) album, I feel like Brian has captured the feel of a Paul Simon album. I'm not sure if I can explain that better, but it is definitely a compliment.
I can go on and on with the accolades, but if you want to hear a really strong singer/songwriter album, let me highly recommend, "Brian Vander Ark".
www.brianvanderark.com