Skip to main content

Dru Cutler - Hometown (2017)




Written by Scott Wigley, posted by blog admin

Dru Cutler brings an unique confluence of pop, rock, and a touch of daring to his songwriting and performances sure to attract the attention of many. It won’t be hollow plaudits they bring. Cutler’s stylistic blend means we’re hearing a writer and performer with the talent to let his Muse take him wherever and bear fruitful results. The latest offering from this gifted Tampa born musician, Hometown, doesn’t waste time. There are two songs in the collection and both offer vivid looks at the artistic dexterity Cutler brings to bear. He’s worked with some important music world figures in shaping these tracks and the high polish distinguishing both never obscures his songwriting and vocal merits. They are both given stellar studio treatment that helps Cutler fully realize the material and he moves through both tracks with unquestionable, reassuring confidence.

You’ll notice the piano in the title track. It does much of the song’s melodic heavy lifting, but Cutler seizes upon a memorable vocal melody nicely complementing its light touch. A steady acoustic guitar running through the mix nails down the song into a definite shape and the hard hitting drumming provides an additional exclamation point. Cutler is at the center of it all – he takes ample advantage of the excellent arrangement and performances to deliver a first class vocal with subtle phrasing refraining from any over-dramatization of the material. The lyrics provide all the drama any listener will need. It isn’t cataclysmic events or over the top in anyway – instead, Cutler shows a sure grasp of significant detail and ties up his reflections in a manner that brings us into the song’s world without ever seeming too constructed or arbitrary. The song has an ideal running time and eschews any big instrumental moment in favor of serving up an unified experience for Cutler’s potential audience.

“Infinite Moons” takes a completely different turn. Much like the opener, the track never runs on too long, but Cutler is clearly intent on offering listeners a very different listening experience than they enjoyed with the title song. The guitar is strong here, but it’s employed in a very different manner than the earlier song – Cutler concentrates much more on the six string giving the song telling moments of color and those shades shift as the song progresses and moves through its handful of different sections. Harmony vocals, likewise, play a more important role here than on the first song and help sweeten what might otherwise be a little more inaccessible of a song structure. The texture remains rather smooth, despite the differences, and Cutler shows the same confidence here that helped set the first song apart. Despite its short length, Dru Cutler makes a big impact with this duo of songs and, taken as a hint to the quality of future work, clearly shows a recording artist who hasn’t yet reached his peak.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Black Note Graffiti - Volume II: Without Nothing I'm You (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://blacknotegraffiti.com/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BlackNoteGraffiti TWITTER: https://twitter.com/blacknotegraffi Written by Raymond Burris, posted by blog admin The second full length release from Ann Arbor’s Black Note Graffiti, Volume 2: Without Nothing I’m You, is an eleven song collection that positions this (then) four piece to rise several more notches in the world of indie rock. The band, furthermore, crackles with the potential to take their act far outside the warm but relatively narrow confines of the indie scene. Rock and its musical progeny may swim upstream commercially in our modern music world, but what that means is that the limited room for viable acts culls the fat off the genre and those who boast marquee status truly deserve it. The band’s talents are considerable – musically, vocally, and lyrically. The growth they’ve exhibited since their 2013 debut is surely the result of the inherent talent they’re dealing with, but it

Joshua Ketchmark - Under Plastic Stars (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://www.joshuaketchmark.com/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/josh.ketchmark Written by Jay Snyder, posted by blog admin From the opening, gentle strum the heart-warming, tumbleweed kicking love song, “We Were Everything” and culminating in the rhythmically pulsating, winding electric guitar leads and spitfire soul vocals of closer “The Great Unknown,” it’s clear that Joshua Ketchmark has arrived.   Hailing from his humble beginnings in Peoria, Illinois and eventually carving a path to every big-time music city in the USA (LA just to name one of many places), Ketchmark is now twelve releases strong in a music career that spans too many genres to count.   Though he primarily operates in old school folk, country, pop and r & b, he also branches out into rock, blues and delicate balladry whenever the mood strikes him.    After the fiery lead-in of “We Were Everything,” Joshua switches into ballad mode with quiet acoustic guitar, deeply mixed and lay

Yam Haus - Stargazer (2018)

OFFICIAL : http://www.yamhaus.com/ FACEBOOK: https://www. facebook.com/yamhaus TWITTER: https://twitter.com/YAMHAUSBand Written by Raymond Burris, posted by blog admin Yam Haus’ debut album Stargazer begins in rousing fashion. The title song opens the album with a short flurry of synthesizer sounds before shifting into stomping guitar and drum driven verses. The slashing guitar work gives the song a great deal of bounce while the drumming contrasts that with straight forward power and Lars Pruitt’s smooth, gliding vocal tone provides the finishing touch for the track. The lyrics don’t remake the wheel or aspire to poetic excellence, but they are a cut above typical fare in this style. “West Coast” has a much more retro slant than the title song, definitely recalling the 1980’s moreso than recent history, but it never looks back to that music too reverentially. The production distinguishes this song, like it does the album across the board, and has a physically engag