It’s very easy to label any understated and lyrically astute singer-songwriter as being Dylan-esque. It’s a phrase, I’m sure, that has been following Chris Beland for a long time. But, in reality, it is just the result of lazy journalism…and I should know, being a lazy journalist myself. But the four tracks that make up his latest mini-album/EP, The Waiting, show that he isn’t, in my mind, Dylan-esque at all. He’s better. Much, much better.
Yes, that is a bold statement, and fans of His Bobness are probably already advancing on my house with flaming torches and weapons-grade Pitchfork reviews, but I find Beland’s hushed and mellifluous vocals to be a cut above his. The delicacy that drives a song like the title track resonates with a softness that Dylan rarely, if ever, captured.
Okay, maybe I am not saying that Belland is better, but he is different and definitely more to my tastes. All music requires the passing of much time before it marinates and percolates into something that we call classic. From what I have heard, Chris Beland has already written plenty of candidates for such rarefied status. All you need to do now is wait and watch…and buy me a drink when I’m proven right.
Discover more from Dancing About Architecture
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
