All music is a juggling act of views and references, new ideas and absorbed sounds; the art is just not showing the welds that join them all together. Owen Sartori is a top sonic welder. He blurs so many musical lines so effectively that it is only when you get the microscope out that you can really see what is going on here. But who would do such a thing? Well, me I guess, it sort of goes with the job but it is also a fascinating pastime, one that helps you get the measure of an artist.
Nobody Gives a Damn is a perfect blend of classic song writing and more folky traditions, updated pop jaunt and emotive indie rock. Banking On It throws in some wonderful Randy Newman-esque bounce and is a great contrast to the drifting and heart-washed Dublin Sky which follows, a song which feels alt-something but would actually nestle quite easily in the charts…though these days he would probably need a dance routine to go with it. What has the world come to? (Rhetorical question. Don’t answer that, we don’t have the time.)
A nice expectation curve ball comes with the title track, a hard rocker with a commercial sheen and it is this run of three tracks which shows what some (i.e. me) see as the brilliance of the album and others might have a problem with. In a world where everyone seems to like neat packages, to know just what they are getting, to understand where the demarcations lie, modern pop pickers and hip indie kids might find the generic switches all a bit confusing for their pre-programed minds.
Others (again, me) see an album of grand scope, of brave exploration, where genres and styles are no barrier and where each is made over to achieve a cohesive Sartorial elegance. Always good to end on a pun!
