There is something really cool going on in the songs that make up Life, something that just deftly pushes the sound of the singer-songwriter into slightly more off-kilter territory. And I mean that in the very best of ways. If you are tired of the same old acoustic guitar-wielding troubadour making the same old sound, then Rob Lalain’s your man.
Each song on Life seems to come from a slightly less obvious place. Whether it is the Seargent Pepper-esque pop-stomp of the opener Coming Home, the wailing and gnashing of sonic teeth of You Ain’t The One, the shimmering, dream-state vibes of End of Time, or the searing, stadium-ready anthemics of Never Going To Walk Away From You, each song seems to offer a different take on what the modern pop-rock troubadour can be.
The songs ebb and flow between the acoustic and understated and the full band sonic tsunami, between infectious pop and driven rock, between the personal and the universally relatable. And at their best, juggles all of these elements at once.
This isn’t exactly the sound of the mainstream songwriter; it’s the sound of the music made by the guy standing to the left of the mainstream songwriter. And that is always going to be better, as this album proves.