Trent Hancock – Ghostbird [EP]

Trent Hancock – Ghostbird [EP]
2010, Trent Hancock

Trent Hancock picked up his life in San Diego and moved to Brooklyn after an inspirational tour through New York City.  Late of the musical duo Ghostbird, Hancock became enamored with the singer/songwriter scene in New York, and chose a new direction for himself musically.  His work caught the attention of producers of Mikal Blue and Andrew Williams (Colbie Callait/Five For Fighting), who invited him back to the west coast to develop the sound.  The resulting EP, also entitled Ghostbird, shows off Hancock’s new sound.

Hancock sets off on a bland pop note with “Falling Faster”.  The song has an A/C friendly sound; airy but a bit too much like too many other things on pop radio to stand out.  “Me And You” is a step in the right direction, showing off a winning melody and Hancock’s exceedingly pleasant voice.  This is mildly catchy pop music with commercial legs.  “Lost My Way” is solid, easy-listening pop music about getting caught in a bad romance.  This one isn’t going to climb charts, but would sit very nicely as an ad-in on a TV or movie soundtrack.  “Strong Hands” explores his own inability to protect someone who has been physically abused.  He talks about the things he’s done to try to help but she just shies away.  The low key musical approach here is perfect.  “Zale” is a sonically appealing creation full of outstanding guitar work and brilliant vocal harmonies.  Hancock closes off Ghostbird with the title track.  “Ghostbird” sounds like a grand musical theme; wanting to be bigger than it is.  There is a lonely beauty to this song that creeps on you and stays around long after the final note has sounded.

Trent Hancock takes an ambitious pop turn on Ghostbird.  The EP starts slow, but builds in beauty and complexity as it progresses.  Trent Hancock certainly seems to be onto something here, possessing a delightful pop sensibility delivered in low key arrangements that mine beauty from everyday observations cast in varying tones of light.  Ghostbird won’t overwhelm you on the first listen, but with each successive spin, Trent Hancock draws you in a little further.  This is definitely an EP worth spending some time with.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Trent Hancock at www.trenthancock.com or www.facebook.com.trenthancockmusic.  Ghostbird [EP] is available as a CD through Trent Hancock's webstore.  If digital is your thing, the album is also available via iTunes.

Never Shout Never - Harmony

Never Shout Never - Harmony
2010 Loveway/Sire Records

Never Shout Never returned recently with their first full length album, Harmony. The band with roots in Joplin, Mississippi garnered a lot of attention with 2009’s Summer EP, earning features from outlets such as Billboard Magazine, Alternative Press, AMP Magazine and MTV’s TRL. Harmony finds Never Shout Never exploring new sounds, choosing a more acoustic folk/rock path than you might expect from their post-punk roots.

Harmony opens with the title track, a highly simplistic and redundant folk/rock track that is likely to have some commercial appeal. The acoustic arrangement here is appealing, but the repetitive nature of the song is likely to grate on a few nerves. "This Sh!t Getz Old" is a highly infectious bit of acoustic pop music that is so catchy you'll overlook the banal lyrical constructs it contains. "Cheatercheaterbestfriendeater" is a calling of accounts for a digital age; a somewhat clinical yet emotionally mature review of a shallow ending to a shallow relationship. "Lovesick" may be the emotional epilogue to "Cheatercheaterbestfriendeater", written with a flair that suggests someone's been listening to 1960's cabaret music rather than the current crop of pop songs. It's a well-constructed song with a great melody and a catchy but quiet feel.

"Piggy Bank" sings the praises of being with someone who appreciates the simple things, particularly when the simple things are all you can afford. It's a highly catchy tune that will have your toes tapping even if the rhyming scheme is occasionally on the far side of awkward. "First Dance" features some impressive vocal harmonies and has the sort of pacing and feel that leads to chart success. Rapid-fire lyrics in the verses resolve into a chorus you'll be humming in your sleep. "Trampoline" is about the building tension of a fledgling relationship and the stops and starts brought on by a prior bad experience. The arrangement is highly inventive and illustrative of the way such relationships might run; a surprisingly subtle bit of song craft. "Sweet Perfection" is a fun little country-style romp that attempts to convince an intended paramour how wonderful things might be. It's a charming tune with real life and is perhaps the most likely track on the album to be on continuous repeat on your MP3 player. On "Sellout" Never Shout Never take themselves and the music industry to task for the tendency to place image over music and creation; the sort of song a major label wouldn't have allowed even five/ten years ago. In the age of "independent" labels established with the financial support of the majors it's only a little less surprising. The song works, but does have a whiny quality to it that will turn some off.

Never Shout Never hit the big time and make a sudden left turn musically, sticking to mostly acoustic folk/rock songs on Harmony. The result is generally very good and occasionally stunning. Never Shout Never does occasionally suffer an awkward moment in their lyrics, but bulls their way through like it doesn't matter. The music tends to be so catchy and/or memorable they are probably right. Never Shout Never, in essence, takes several giant leaps forward artistically with Harmony, overcoming the sort of sophomore doldrums that afflict many bands with blunt acoustic force. The band has its idiosyncrasies, but there's something in the chemistry of Never Shout Never that makes you want to overlook the small blemishes; like that one friend in every group that's a little off-kilter but no one has a bad word to say about. Never Shout Never will sneak up on you and have you hooked on their melodies before you know what hit you.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Never Shout Never at http://www.nevershoutnever.com/ or www.myspace.com/nevershoutnever.  Harmony is available from Amazon.com as a Deluxe CD, Standard CD, Explicit Download, or Clean Download.  iTunes has the album in both Explicit and Clean versions.

Review: Adrina Thorpe - Halflight & Shadows

Adrina Thorpe - Halflight & Shadows
2009, Adrina Thorpe

Adrina Thorpe gained a great deal of popular attention from her debut album, Elusive, placing songs in shows from CW and Lifetime networks as well as independent films. Her song Who Will Find Me was proclaimed by DJ Armin Van Buuren to be "his favorite song of the last two years". Thorpe's follow-up CD, Halflight & Shadows, brings no sophomore slump for the performer whose songwriting walks the line between darkness and light. With an all-star band of cohorts including producer Filippo Gaetani; drummer Randy Cooke (Mick Jagger, Ringo Starr, Five For Fighting); cellist David Takahashi (Sting, Sheryl Crow, Kanye West); violinist Chris Woods (Justin Timberlake; Jessica Simpson) and drummer Fernando Sanchez (Luis Fonsi, Charlotte Martin), the classically trained Thorpe has managed to create a true aural experience for the listener. The blending of Classical, Folk and Rock styles dazzles with flashes of brilliance and magical undercurrents of melody and harmony.

Halflight & Shadows opens with Impossible Dream, a mid-tempo ethereal rocker in the style of Sarah McLachlan. Thorpe has a stunning and haunting voice, in turns, occasionally affecting the style of McLachlan or even Tori Amos while carving out a niche that is mostly her own. Impossible Dream carries with it a lost and searching sense that fits the song perfectly. Midnight is a dark and mysterious love song with an interesting mix of instrumentation. You'll hear everything from piano to orchestration to electronic sounds; a gorgeous and haunting mix. Everything Changes is about letting go of a bad relationship and places some of the thought process in song. The song is lyrically dense at times in the verse which is balance by an ethereal yet economic chorus.

Domino highlights the fact that once you know the truth your options are pretty limited. The song is gorgeous and dark and full of a barely contained anger that struggles with the narrator's good nature. This one sounds like it could be a Tori Amos outtake, with a piano style reflective of Amos' work and a vocal style that's almost dead on at times. Driving finds Thorpe in a place that is dark, vulnerable and full of need. The tune is unforgettable, halting and striving in turns with the turn of emotion that drives the narrator. The car ride is simply an encapsulation for a journey the narrator is consumed with. Coming Home is a song about running from what you need; sometimes when the prodigal child returns home facts have changed and people have moved on; A powerful and emotive track with a lush sound.

Walk is very much reflecting of Sarah McLachlan's earlier work. Dark and stormy and full of volatile emotions, Walk reflects a primitive beauty at war with need. Moment To End is probably the most beautiful vocal on the disc; the song gets caught up in the obsessive nature of the moment and repeats the title until it nearly hits a breaking point for the listener. This is either a miscalculation or an attempt to instill the sort of cognitive and emotional dissonance in the listener that the narrator feels. Kiss The Day is a highly melodic and vaguely ethereal Lilith Fair Pop-Rocker. The subject is a bit convoluted but it's sonically pleasing. Give You My Love is a sweet and open love song that holds no hidden traps or equivocations. It's a refreshingly honest and pure love song set to a haltingly beautiful melody line. Thorpe closes out the set with Seed, a six-minute piano and voice odyssey that's part epoch poem and part journal entry. Thorpe keeps listeners on the edge of their seat as she unfolds a story, spoken to another, about the prospects for love, life and happiness. The vocal is drop-dead gorgeous in a song that sounds like it could be the introduction to a stage show. This is the sort of tune that unfolds in concert to utter, unbreakable silence that explodes into a cacophony of applause at the end. It's the perfect close to the album.

Adrina Thorpe is an amazing songwriter. She's obviously been influenced by folks like Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos and even perhaps Kate Bush. You can hear these influences in her music but at the same time Thorpe has taken those influences and wrapped them up with her own personality and style to create something distinctive. Hers is a voice that would stop people on the streets of a place like New York City, and the arrangements she crafts are perfect frames and backgrounds for the stories she tells in her songs. Halflight & Shadows is brilliant; a Wildy's World Certified Desert Island Disc. Don't miss it.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Adrina Thorpe at www.myspace.com/adrinathorpe or http://www.adrinathorpe.com/, where you can order Halflight & Shadows as either a CD or download.

Review: Never Shout Never - The Summer EP

Never Shout Never – The Summer EP
2009, Never Shout Never

Joplin, Missouri’s Christopher Drew is the creative force behind Never Shout Never, the latest in a long line of MTV-friendly post-punk pop bands to hit the national stage. With media features by outlets such as Alternative Press, Billboard Magazine, AMP Magazine as well as a 2008 performance on MTV’s TRL, Never Shout Never is nicely positioned for a big year. The Summer EP, recorded in early 2009, was recorded by Forrest Kline of HelloGoodbye and mixed by Jon Kaplan (Good Charlotte, LL Cool J, The Starting Line). The EP also features a cameo from Limbeck’s Patrick Carrie (I Just Laugh).

The Summer EP opens with Happy, a bright and cheery acoustic pop song. Drew has a distinctive voice with a strong and clear falsetto sound. The song itself is very catchy. I Just Laugh is a catchy brand of folk/geek/pop that will keep intruding into your head. On The Bright Side is highly quirky and highly infectious. This is one of those songs you just have to sing/hum/whistle/tap along to. You won’t be able to help yourself. Losing It is the best composition on the album; a wonderful pining love song that will be familiar to anyone who’s lived through adolescence. You’ll also want to check out the other two tracks, Hummingbird and Simple Enough.

Never Shout Never is the sort of different that will get significant attention, similar to how the Counting Crows first caught on when they came on the national scene. Vocalist Christopher Drew has the advantage of sounding like almost no one in pop, although comparisons could be made to John Ondrasik and Adam Duritz. The Summer EP will do great things for Never Shout Never. Expect to start hearing that name a lot more in the not-too-distant future.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Never Shout Never at www.myspace.com/nevershoutnever. You can purchase a copy of The Summer EP at Amazon.com. Never Shout Never will be part of mtvU’s Sunblock Festival Tour along with Boys Like Girls and Gym Class Heroes this summer, as well as playing on the SmartPunk stage on the Vans Warped Tour from July 20 – August 9, 2009.

Review: Aaron Barnhart - Missing Pieces

Aaron Barnhart - Missing Pieces

2009, Bonded Records/Fontana Records/Universal Music Group

Aaron Barnhart is on a track for big things. His debut album, Missing Pieces, came out in May on “Indie” label Bonded Records. Indie is in quotes because Bonded is owned by UMG, but that’s an article for another day. Barnhart is being put out there as the next teen dream, and he may well be. With production by Stuart Brawley (Michael Jackson, Don Henley, Celine Dion, Josh Groban), it’s clear that the folks at Universal Music are betting heavily on Barnhart’s success.

Missing Pieces opens with Day In Day Out, featuring a hook-filled, alt-pop melody that will stay with you. Barnhart has a voice you want to listen to and has a very radio-friendly writing style based in piano-fueled Rock and ballads. Missing Pieces is a song of angst; a passive generational missive on all that isn't happening. Barnhart sounds a bit like John Ondrasik of Five For Fighting here. Painkiller is a non-traditional love song written in a Southern Rock style that you won't soon forget. One More Second Chance is fairly typical as a ballad except that it sounds like it might have been originally written as a country tune.

The Water's Edge is my favorite song on Missing Pieces, an impassioned tune that longs for redemption in the revival of a failed relationship. The Water's Edge is a beautiful piano-based ballad that misses the syrup boat and may gain a lot of attention for Barnhart. Another Day is a close second for favorite song; a 1970's style rock tune with orchestral aspirations where Queen meets Chicago. The vocals here show Barnhart as his most dynamic.

Aaron Barnhart has an ability to connect with the listener even though a medium as cold and distant as a CD. His voice, at his best, is highly memorable, particularly as he moves into his upper range. Missing Pieces is aptly titled. When songs work they're amazing, but there are a few songs here that just don't. Barnhart's sound has distinct commercial potential, and his continued development as an artist will give him great opportunities to realize that potential. Missing Pieces is a strong start.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Aaron Barnhart at www.myspace.com/aaronbarnhart or http://www.aaronbarnhart.com/. You can purchase Missing Pieces at Amazon.com, or download the album through iTunes.

Review: Nathan Brumley - Show Me A Sign

Nathan Brumley – Show Me A Sign
2005, Embassy Music

Whitebird, Idaho’s Nathan Brumley took the indirect route to his music career. Following college, Brumley took a job rebuilding hiking trails. While others were fueling their songwriting through the sort of self-possessed pain teens and early twenty-somethings expose themselves to, Brumley was living a life of serenity and hard work. He did something right. Five albums and several licensing deals later, Brumley lives to make music. Brumley’s songwriting has a strong Contemporary Christian slant, but also has the ADD-fueled Zeitgeist at times of Ben Folds. Today we’re talking about his 2005 release on Embassy Music, Show Me A Sign.

Opening with the title track, Brumley sets a deliciously dark tone for the album. Show Me A Sign has a distinct blues flavor in the verse that turns pure pop on the chorus. Breath Of My Soul is a piano-driven prayer in song that is a pleasant listen but doesn’t leave a strong impression. Offending Grace is offered in a wonderful pop arrangement built around a strong melody line and arching harmonies. This is the most sonically pleasing cut on the disc and should obtain significant presence on Christian Radio outlets with distinct potential for crossover to the pop realm. Brumley gets a little formulaic in on the second half of Show Me A Sign, with schmaltzy pop tune such as Love Outside The Lines, Only My Heart, Every Time See The Rain and How High. He returns to form however for the final track, Things You’ve Never Done, a piano-based prayer in song that is inspired.

Nathan Brumley has real songwriting talent. Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) fans will go ga-ga for Brumley, and his better material has enough pop bite to have real crossover potential. Show Me A Sign is a bit uneven, starting out with strong material but running out of steam about halfway through. The rest is decent, just not up to the level of the first four or five songs on the disc. Show Me A Sign is highly recommended for fans of CCM. Even if CCM isn’t your deal, there is some great pop songwriting here.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Nathan Brumley at www.myspace.com/nathanbrumleymusic. You can purchase a copy of Show Me A Sign at www.cdbaby.com/cd/nathanbrumley.