Drew Southern – Roll Down
I’ve got this ritual lately. I get dressed for the cold, pack up my bags ahead of going to work, and head on down to a little, badly lit shack to which I’ve been given the keys. Once there, I warm up my voice and proceed to attempt and scream the songs of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. Layne Staley and Chris Cornell’s vocals can’t really be attempted while having any care for your neighbours.
The point is that it’s not just the volume that’s a problem. Those grunge frontmen could really sing. And, for the vast majority of their repertoire, they kept their voices on the very edge. It’s a tone that, for the few that manage to do it, instantly improves just about any composition.
Drew Southern has acquired this kind of voice, no doubt through patience and hard work. Roll Down is quite a spectacle in terms of singing. The songwriting isn’t exactly through highly developed, but give Southern the phonebook to shout, and you should be well entertained.
Electric Candlelight – Another Year Gone By
Rock music is very often a sport of strength. Yes, sure, we are thankful to punk for making things seem democratic. However, the reach of punk-rock, music made by misfits who often did not possess the greatest amount of technical attributes, does not stretch as far and wide as romantics of the genre would like to believe.
At the end of the day, regardless of trends, computer assistance, or production techniques, great vocals sell a song. That’s the reason why every year people spend good money on trying to learn to sing like some of the best singers in the world and why I presume, folks watch those insufferable talent shows on television.
Electric Candlelight possesses the kind of singer that gets noticed, whether you’ll be hearing their music from a tiny speaker, inside a club, or in the clutter of the radio. Blues-driven and swampy, they sound like Creedence Clearwater Revival if they’d reformed and took some cues from alternative rock. Just don’t let anyone except John Fogerty write any of the songs, okay?
