For some, punk-rock offers a sturdy education that most would not be able to receive otherwise, and for others, it offers the permission to wear a leather jacket and funny haircut through the decades. To be fair, the fashion opportunities, for most, usually outweigh the philosophical implications.
But that doesn’t exactly change the fact that punk-rockers, like army vets, people with tattoos on their foreheads or those who once volunteered themselves for science experiments, don’t really step off and move into an average, ordinary life. Just what effect will punk have had on them once they’re done making the scene?
For Naylor Stone, it was all pretty easy to understand. Punk-rock’s offered the perspective for a balanced, well-meaning existence. “The Game of They,” the artist’s new EP is gritty, but hopeful, and even musically sophisticated. Some punks keep growing even once the allure of the three power chords and the truth routine doesn’t quite do a job anymore.
Stone’s an ex-punk-rocker with, judging by the songs of things, a library card and a growing record collection. The EP’s opener, “If It Wasn’t for the Trees,” is a charming alt-rock piece that highlights Stone’s theatrical vocal delivery. The playing and production are finely tuned.
But what does a former punk think of the state of the world? Stone takes it all on in songs like “The Game of They.” But you get the sense that the songwriter’s acquired enough experience not to sit in the way of a wrecking ball for no reason. The song is a manic-sounding, dark-humoured country stomp about parties where big decisions are made and all of us are not invited.
Musical cleverness aside, it’s actually the vocals which, through it all, help tie the project together. You can hear it on the jazzy, post-melancholy of “Love Me, Little Lazy” or the psych-country “Top Me Up.”
“In the Meantime” is a real highlight, a song that brings to mind the earnest roots-rock songwriting that would sneak its way into the charts back in the 1990s, and one that features a mighty catchy chorus.
Where does it all leave us then? In the songwriter’s case, wise enough not to spend too much time worrying about anything. The closer, “With All My Friends,” is a slow-paced, bluesy celebration of going through it all, and getting out alive, some that’s enough of an achievement these days.
Naylor Stone’s “The Game of They” is a laid-back affair from a former punk rocker who’s learned early on what matters and what doesn’t deserve spending hours in the day worrying about.
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