I'll Walk From Here - Stetson Straw

Stetson Straw

​I'll Walk From Here
self-released; 2016

3.4 out of 5

By Jamie Funk
​

Stetson Straw is a duo consisting of Tyler Dryden (vocals/lyrics/guitar/other instruments) and Patrick Kwan (guitar/other instruments) are more Simon and Garfunkel than The White Stripes. It’s about damn time. Do you know how many duos out there still sound like The White Stripes?

The songs on I’ll Walk From Here are lo-fi, mostly revolving around guitar and vocals. They aren’t doing too fancy in terms of technical work or production but everyone’s got to start somewhere. They are some inspired moments on some of these tunes. Mostly in the way of melancholy and vocal harmonies. 

They start with “En Route” which isn’t much of anything besides white noise, reverb tails and guitar. Typical nostalgic, stare into the abyss of nothingness type stuff. The next track “Second Impressions” starts with a poorly recorded lo-fi guitar that brings you out of the void and transports you into the living room, bedroom or bathroom of where this was recorded. It’s a nice song and I enjoyed the harmonies. That being said it desperately needed a change in rhythm or sound. 

“Catch My Drift” contains some harmonica and loose ideas. The vocals are again the highlight and I liked the lyrics that I was able to make out. Not bad fellas. “Blasphemy” is arguably the highlight. The vocals are top notch on this song. As good as it was it would have benefited from a more significant shift in tone.

​As the album progresses the songs are hit and miss with some inspiration in between. “Cosmic Mafia” was a highlight. The duo have potential but still have a ways to go. There are good ideas here but they need to be more fleshed out and not overly used. Overall, they fall into a case of wait and see.

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