Review: Josh Radin, We Were Here- I, However, Was Not
::Sigh:: Zach Braff, what happened? Here I was, all excited to get Joshua Radin's new album in the mail after you gushed like a little school girl over his music on your blog and and...I generally dislike it. Not hate, just a kind of blah. We've all seen Garden State. We all LOVE Garden State, so we all know you have decent taste in music. Hell, on your blog you even claim you are listening to Sufjan Stevens and Ryan Adams, but tell me- was Joshua your friend before you started to like his music or the other way around?
Individually, Radin's songs are ok. Watching the YouTube (below) of Braff directing his video for the song 'Closer', I started to kind of dig it but watch the video and then listen to the album and you will see that the songs don't vary much. They all feature Radin's breathy singing with a female vocalist accompanying him most of the time. While for a couple of songs, that would have been ok, on an entire album it makes it nearly unlistenable (in fact, it took me several attempts and I've only just gotten to the end while driving around doing errands today). There is, however, one tune that stands out as the single breathy track to like and that is 'Everything'll be alright.' It's slightly faster than the others and talks about leaving a girl in New York- I'm a sucker for some New York imagery, especially when it has to do with heartache. The song is not on his MySpace, but you can preview it on his webpage.
In my humble opinion, Damien Rice has done this album already but with more grace and intelligence. If you are looking for a new, cute, singer/songwriter to like, look towards someone like R. Star. Sure, he may be selling out a wee bit by being on that inane show Supernova, but at least at his concert I really felt something for his music. Ryan's 'Losing Your Memory' (right click download) is one of my great finds of the summer.
Download 'Today' (not on the album) by Joshua Radin here
and the single 'Winter' here.
Individually, Radin's songs are ok. Watching the YouTube (below) of Braff directing his video for the song 'Closer', I started to kind of dig it but watch the video and then listen to the album and you will see that the songs don't vary much. They all feature Radin's breathy singing with a female vocalist accompanying him most of the time. While for a couple of songs, that would have been ok, on an entire album it makes it nearly unlistenable (in fact, it took me several attempts and I've only just gotten to the end while driving around doing errands today). There is, however, one tune that stands out as the single breathy track to like and that is 'Everything'll be alright.' It's slightly faster than the others and talks about leaving a girl in New York- I'm a sucker for some New York imagery, especially when it has to do with heartache. The song is not on his MySpace, but you can preview it on his webpage.
In my humble opinion, Damien Rice has done this album already but with more grace and intelligence. If you are looking for a new, cute, singer/songwriter to like, look towards someone like R. Star. Sure, he may be selling out a wee bit by being on that inane show Supernova, but at least at his concert I really felt something for his music. Ryan's 'Losing Your Memory' (right click download) is one of my great finds of the summer.
Download 'Today' (not on the album) by Joshua Radin here
and the single 'Winter' here.
posted by JK | 7:27 PM
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