Solo artist and Sant Cruz native Joel. is back with his first recording from a hiatus he took from writing and playing with his former band Seven Day Weekend. He began writing the music for Tear Down the Statue…Burn Down the Stage…in the summer of 2018 and playing and recording all the instrumentation for the EP in his home studio. Joel. describes his sound as alternative/indie rock with influences from bands like Brand New, A Perfect Circle, Badflower and The Deer Hunter. His songwriting process was quite personal. Raising children of his own, coming to terms with his own imperfections as a human and developing into the kind of man he came to be, resulted in very honest, down to earth music for this Californian artist. I think you’ll agree.
The intro to the EP is titled just that – “Introduction” – and it begins with warm, and relaxing sounding keys and then a sort of, hip-hop/funk beat followed by a narration of wise words of advice. One quote stuck in my mind the most – “We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” “The Sinner and the Saint” has a fantastic big beat – bold and rocking – coupled with echoing guitar, bluesy and psychedelic in a lot of ways. I really enjoyed this one overall, for its smooth, mellow and dark tones but also the way Joel. arranged the instruments. Next up is “The Poisoned Apple” – an edgy, even darker song musically. It has a progression that creeps along, the rhythm rumbling and fueling the song’s energy. Joel. hits some pretty impressive high notes in this one. What I thought interesting in this tune was the fade out – you don’t hear songs fading out too often these days. “Another Middle Aged Love Song” is one-part love song, or well – how about a love song apology? Or perhaps, just an honest song about coming to terms on how things played out in a relationship that’s had its share of miles already. “North of Town” starts off with a soulful sounding guitar, soothing and laid back and in fact, pretty much the whole song is like that. Joel. writes parts of this one in second person as if he wanted to remember the advice he wrote down so that he could refer to it again when he got older. Just a guess? Maybe. But man, I really like the groove to this one a lot and how the words fit the song’s musical style to a tee. The last number is “Danger! Danger! Danger!” and it offers more of the somber, dark tonal chords that this artist is good at. A little heavier with a somewhat faster beat, but the melody is what caught my ear. There is just the right balance of dark and light moods within this song as well. I identified with the words – “I’m off on my own / try to understand my need for danger / let me be the man I am destined to become on my own.” Can’t get much more honest than that. Joel.’s guitar solo gets really heavy and deep and after the four-minute mark the song ends. A bit later a hidden track can be heard in the last few minutes. All things considered, I was thoroughly impressed with how much full sound and production one guy can do. I mean, it sounded to me like Joel. was backed by a full band. But aside from the technical stuff, I think you’ll enjoy this artist’s natural knack for writing great songs. I hope we can hear more soon.
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