For someone who’s had his share of bar fights, band breakups and angst-induced bodily injuries, Adam Ashbach’s debut solo effort, Puzzle Pieces, exudes a buoyant-yet-cautious energy. As a member of Chicago’s Musical Outfits for nearly seven years, he and the gang were on a wave of sold-out venues and courtships by major labels.
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Adam Ashbach
|  Entertainment
Art
"Puzzle Pieces"
(Adam Ashbach Music)
Released September 30, 2009
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Things got sour, and the aforementioned calamities made Ashbach step away from this city and even music-making for a while. Now he’s back with former band mates Jason Angelilli on guitars and Joe Wagner on Drums. And the album they have crafted plays like a good helping of comfort food.
The five songs on this EP rely on Ashbach’s strengths: gently singing honestly, warm recollections peppering comfy numbers like opener “8 Years With Betty”: “Remember that time, we stayed up all night, the sun came up…” Ashbach seems to have built up enough experience in his life resume that he can look back on rough spots while confidently walking with time. “I can’t believe…” he bellows, “That we could never be back again. It’s not hard to see a life together with you and me.”
One can sense Ashbach’s desire to pour out his heart, but the process unfortunately sounds too familiar and expected all too often. Where the first track does so with lyrics, the second track teeters between the banality of mall rock and a slightly more refined sound with instrumental range. A light backing flute, saxophone and smoky howling just barely save the chorus and verse from disintegrating into the kind of CD player magnet ripe for a late-teen melodramatic going-to-college road trip. Still, the added textures provide a cool air that makes this track memorable.
“Paramount” follows with more of the same; the bit of country and rock’n’roll here get lost in those bland phrases: “Paramount things are gonna come my way. I take my time and look both ways. I don’t want to miss nothing.”
But Ashbach provides incentive for those hanging around. Just when all seems lost, he comes back with hook-laden “Warning”, the sweetest and most real song on the release. It’s hard to deny the folky tones of banjo and ghostly guitar wails with slightly cryptic lyrics like “See the way of everyone, lies and spies have turned me all num…”
This bit of freshness makes you believe Ashbach may just have the knife to carve himself a new niche in a tired old tree.
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Warning...
Written by Guest on 2009-11-05 15:34:44
This song is amazing! It reminds me of Elliot Smith. |
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