Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Music Review //
Geoff Gibbons
"Shadow of a Stone"


https://open.spotify.com/album/2pbZ7biclzL8yV8bLKqyAD?si=_TVwypdDSgWOAT9CNOBEdw#_=_

These four songs begin with the titular track, which is a softer song, somewhere between rock and folk.    At times, it can feel like country, but it doesn't have that particular twang to it or whatever makes country not just be rock music.    "Please Remember Me" opens with whistles and a gentle acoustic strum which can bring about a sound between Simon & Garfunkel and Belle & Sebastian.    In many ways, it reminds me of a ballad by Flogging Molly- you know, one of their less rowdy songs, and while I'm sure someone out there might make music such as that, I'm not as familiar with them as I should be but I do enjoy what Geoff Gibbons is doing here.

"Soldier Soldier" is the third song and it starts with more of a western vibe, but in the way that Bon Jovi plays "Young Guns".    It almost has that Nightwatchman feel to it, along with something else I can't quite put my finger on but believe I have heard once in my life.   Something like that one song from that Punisher movie they did with Thomas Jane and a little bit of Johnny Cash as well.    Kind of like "God's Gonna Cut You Down" which is funny because in some ways this reminds me of something religious as well.   Maybe not like church, but there is a spiritual side to it.

Oddly, on the fourth and final song- "The Other Side"- I am reminded of a Disney movie for some reason.   It has that feel like "Lion King" but at the same time has a slight western vibe to it.   Has there really been a Disney western animated film?  Something like "Rango" but more family friendly, as I love "Rango" but he seems too dark, even for Disney.   One of the characters would have to be more upbeat than anyone in "Rango" was, but ultimately it has this feeling like the movie ended as well and they were making it from one town to another across the desert.

While I hear bits and pieces of artists I can feel familiar with during these songs, they never get to that point where I can pinpoint them by name.   Sometimes I hear just a line or the particular way a guitar note strikes and think about some song I heard once, maybe twenty years ago even, but I just can't place the name or even the lyrics.   At most I'm able to hum the old hook.   That point of familiarity should help ease you into these four songs which are fantastic and should just be enjoyed for what they are, even if I cannot exactly describe it.

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