Harrison Caldeira - His . Story
Harrison Caldeira - His . Story |
I know a lot of people who would
absolutely hate this album. Some of my closest and oldest friends, people I've
been to countless gigs with share some very special musical moments with. And I
can understand that because Canadian singer-songwriter Harrison Caldeira walks
a very fine line between organic, acoustic lead folk-pop and cheesy, watered
down soul music. For me, I'm willing to give the guy a chance as he a certain
G-Love, Jack Johnson thing going on in tracks like 'The Trail', 'The Sedative'
and 'Simple Steps which is quite appealing. However, on 'Heavy Waters' , 'When
The World' and 'Bright Lights & Two Ways' things do get a little too 'smooth'
for my taste in a kind of Michael Buble meets Bruno Mars kinda way.
'Visionary' gets inexplicably
countrified with some astounding guitar noodling going on whilst 'Part Of Our
Ways' has some lovely, water rippling over stones guitar picking throughout. I
like the drums only intro to 'Symbols' a lot and even the fretless bass work
doesn't ruin it for me as Caldeira velvety voice croons over the top of it all.
There is a wistful feel to 'Memo (To Take A Side)' that has an almost English
folk feel to it but the young man's voice is unmistakably from the other side
of the Atlantic. Finally, 'Apt. 991' is a sketchy ditty played out on a cheaply
recorded guitar but shows wonderfully the rich, soulful tones of Caldeira's
voice. So, it's an album of two sides for me and the side I prefer is when
Harrison Caldeira is left to sing virtually unaccompanied as I think the
overproduction on some of the tracks tends to leave his personality a little flattened
out in the mix.
More information: http://harrisoncaldeira.com/