Last Ditch Effort – Kevin Driscoll (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

There is certainly something wonderful and wonderfully unique to be found in Kevin Driscoll‘s voice, a tone or texture that is found in only a handful of other artists. To say that this is a spoken word performance rather than singing speaks volumes about how the modern age of conformity, stage-school artists, autotune, and music marketing by committee has turned us against anything truly different.

In Kevin’s vocals, you hear the same lived-in, world-weary sound of Tom Waits, the same dark beauty and timelessness of Leonard Cohen; you hear all the cracks and contortions and vocal atmospherics and extraordinary otherness, you feel the weight of the years in each sentence, the wisdom of experience in every word

And it is a voice that is perfect for “Last Ditch Effort,” with its dark soundscape, its somber-soaked vibe, and the intensity and heartache of someone coming to terms with a relationship that has, except for the titular last throw of the dice, run its course.

Programmed beats build a structure onto which Kevin adds some sparse nylon-string guitar lines, a mournful, distant horn sounding a quiet retreat, and an ebb and flow of hypnotic sonics. A dark and delicious, ambient-noirscape!

Too many people try to live up to others’ expectations and are guided by someone else’s idea of creativity. Kevin Driscoll has been blessed with a unique voice —one that would be impossible to replicate, even if you wanted to — and, because it might not live up to everyone’s idea of what singing is, it does beg an important question. Uniqueness or conformity?

Listen to “Last Ditch Effort” and tell me that you’d rather have something that sounds like every other pop wannabe currently circling the drain of fad and fashion, or something that will sound brilliantly unique forever?

Website

Facebook

YouTube

Instagram