Songwriter and guitarist Evan Veasey plays with the conventions of 20th century folk and Americana music to explore the recesses of his inner life with an unflinching light on his recent release Don't Cry. Veasey mentions “I would say relevant artist comparisons would be Plastic Ono Band era John Lennon, Paul Simon, Andy Shauf, Twain, Wilco and Christian Lee Hutson.” I would agree with his own assessment of his music.
The first song is entitled “Annie Dillard” and you are greeted with warm guitar picking and well- delivered vocals. It’s warm, comforting and fills you with solace. I was getting Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens vibes on this song. As the song progresses some more energy is introduced with drums and there’s an additional female vocalist that makes a brief appearance. Great opener. “Seven Years of Bad Luck” has this mix of melancholy and this sort of innocence to it that doesn't make it feel too heavy. The guitars have some delay on them and I thought the other elements were really well implemented. I would say the vocals are the main attraction. “Spread-Eagle” is very intimate and melancholy. Elliott Smith came to mind more on this song. There’s some beautiful slide guitar and a sense of longing and yearning. “Unseen” brings up the energy with one of the most catchy and inviting songs. This song features a full band and it sounds great. It’s also a brighter and pretty joyous sounding song which I thought was placed in the perfect place on the album. “Solar Eclipse” delivers the goods as well. The song is sort of lush with this ’70s like aesthetics. I thought the vocals were top notch here and the organ, guitar, bass and drums had a symbiotic relationship. Paul Simon type energy was prevalent on the song “I Taught Myself.” It’s another great song and I loved the guitar picking and intricate patterns. The super relaxing and serene “Hopefully Someday” sounded like a classic and tips its hat to Americana. “Guiding Light” is beautiful and very hopeful sounding and the closer “Never Change” is an intimate song with orchestral elements that hit the mark. This is an extremely well produced album. The artist recorded at Square Lake Studios and as an engineer myself they did an exceptional job. I will say when a record sounds this good it's easier for the emotive qualities to emerge. I thought this was an exceptional album. Veasey puts a lot of attention on the sequential order of the songs and I suggest listening to this album from beginning to end. That's where the gold is as he puts you through an emotional journey that you will most likely revisit again and again. Highly recommended.
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