Blake McKibbenLabel: Independent
14 Songs, 41 minutes and 5 seconds
Release Date: February 2, 2010
Blake McKibben’s Haze is a very well crafted initial entry into the music scene. This collection of fourteen short songs includes everything from a soft ballad to heavy shoe gaze, folk to pop-rock and a little hip hop. All instruments and vocals are McKibben’s alone, as well as the writing, production, and recording. This solo project is reminiscent of Todd Rundgren’s famous ‘Something / Anything’ project while the theatrical story-structured content is similar to early Alan Parsons Project work. The song collection does not have a singular style, but a collection of styles. Individually, each song stands on its own while together they converge to support the album’s theme proving once again that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The stage is set with “Intro”, a short, synth-heavy, shoreline-esque instrumental which breaks to the shoe gaze title track “Haze” telling of lost communication in a lightly echoed voice. “I See your Ghost”, showcases great lyrics, ‘…once in a while I see your ghost, once in a while I feel you close…’ “Floating” flashes back to a ‘80s ‘new wave’ rocker and gives way to the acoustic guitar based ballad ‘Nothing More Than Anything Is” with whispery vocals telling of relationship woes. The well written “We All Face The Fate” theatrically fades from sirens and voices to lyrically telling a story of loss, ‘…so go ahead and fall, and put away that gun, cause we all make mistakes, yeah we all face the fate…’ ‘I think we ought to run and kick it in the sun’ leads off the heavy percussion and synth foundation for “Two”. The bright and bouncy “You Lift Me Up” provides an uplifting moment while “Black Laughter” begins with a laugh track giving way to a solemn synth and piano lead instrumental. “Another Day Another Dollar” tells the story of the day-to-day drudgery of life sounding much like INXS of the ‘80s.
Covering every emotion, Haze is a great listen and easy to relate to with a string of songs ranging from the serious to the light hearted moments of life. McKibben’s offering succeeds in putting the listener in a place warm and far away, a very nice place to be. This haunting, easy to love, well crafted ‘story’ album also manages to be a great ‘headphone’ album. Without reserve, this is one of the best ‘whole albums’ I have heard in a long time - exciting to listen to, great fun and very replayable.
http://www.myspace.com/blakemckibben
http://www.tollbooth.org/2010/reviews/blakemck.html
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