Tom Strasser - Second Thoughts
 |
| Tom Strasser - Second Thoughts |
Austria! Welcome to the party.
I've been thinking of creating a map to mark off the music I get from all over
the world and I don't think Austria has featured before so that would be a new
pin. Tom Strasser is the Austrian in question and he has magic fingers - ladies
beware, he'd probably be able to unhook your bra as quick as he could click his
fingers. You see, throughout this album Strasser employs a finger tapping or
hammering guitar style as used by the likes of Newton Faulkner and Jose
Gonzalez to create some gorgeous sounding music. Tracks like 'Coffee and
Cigarettes', 'One Of These Days' and 'How Do You Know?' show what can be done
with an acoustic guitar if you move away from the limitations of strumming and
picking. 'Take It All' is another great example of Strasser's abilities as he
uses the guitar for both melody and rhythm. The politically charged 'Goldman
And It Sucks' is a more melodic tune as the notes run from the guitar like
Swallows in an early evening sky.
In a moment of obvious labelling
'Protest Song' does what it says on the tin and gives our hero a chance to flex
his social commentary muscles while 'Time To Mind' takes things to a darker
place, musically speaking. There are times when you feel the songwriting has been
slightly neglected in favour of showing of technical ability as on 'Feel The
Flow' which doesn't move from the initial dirge or 'Special Place' which sounds
like a song about trying to find the clitoris but is actually a fairly bland, over
earnest jazz-lite love song. By the time you reach the closing songs of
'Fallin' To The Sky', 'Sail In To The Sun' and 'Easy Sun' there is no denying
that Tom Strasser is a technically gifted guitarist and a passable singer but
there aren't really any stand-out songs that you can see the mainstream falling
in love with. That's not what everyone is aiming for, however, so in the
meantime let's just enjoy some good fingering from a talented Austrian. If you
catch my drift...
More Information: www.tomstrasser.com
Listen/Download: http://tomstrasser.bandcamp.com/album/second-thoughts
Live Dates:
6th April - Online Gig, Worldwide! (https://plus.google.com/events/c1ctq283io07uohin494joamtds?cfem=1)
25th April - Vienna, Austria