Eastern Time – Byorn Gold (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

As mentioned with previous albums, Byorn Gold‘s strategy of releasing his latest musical endeavour as a series of EPs before bringing them together into a long-player, as we used to call them, pays dividends. And even more so with his latest, Eastern Time, as a natural thematic grouping runs through the album. The three constituent parts – Beginning, Being, and the most recent, Becoming – each relate to the nature of one of the Hindu deities of the Trimurti, a holy triumvirate comprised of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. While the lyrics are not overtly philosophical or religious, they are filled with gentle allegories and parables, life narratives, and enlightened teachings.

As always, the music is a fluid affair, generally remaining in the structured and accessible pop-rock world, for want of a better term, but flavoured with any number of other genres and styles to achieve their finished state of sonic grace. So we run from the buoyant poise of Coming Home through the understated folklands of I Want Peace to the world grooves of Serendipity. Then, from the mellifluous pop of Crack On through the soulful drifts of Fantastic Day and the mystical funk of Guru, into the chant-like raptures of the Asian Dream.

There is a lot of ground covered and a lot of styles incorporated into the musical structures, but as great and varied as these songs are, it is always the lyrics that catch your attention. If mainstream music is broadly throwaway and obvious, Byorn Gold offers us a new way of doing things, music that combines all of the aspects of chart-aware songs—pop infectiousness, soulful seduction, rock groove—but with lyrical depth and real meaning.

These everyday philosophies run from Crack On, a reminder that you need to push forward and do the work to find real spiritual progress, that enlightenment and balance require effort to Fantastic Days, and its elemental message of oneness with the world. Guru tells us that it is okay to make mistakes and that failing is an integral part of success; I Have Got To Go tells us that there are many different life paths out there, but you have to decide which is for you and then, more importantly, be brave enough to set foot on it. And then there are more obvious sentiments, such as I Want Peace, which wears its overall message very clearly on its sonic sleeve.

Eastern Time is a remarkable achievement. It offers blended songs that utilize the best aspects of many different sounds and styles, creating Byorn’s signature sound, and a lyrical depth rarely found in music this accessible.

So where do you go after you have scaled such dizzy and philosophical heights? Rumour has it that Byorn’s next project will take us to the movies. I can’t wait to see what Stories come out of that!