I Can't Stop Playing FURTHER NORTH!
J. Martin | Seattle, WA USA | 11/08/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"That's right, I can't. This album is such a fine piece of musicianship, after I bought the CD, I had to have a copy on vinyl as well. It sounds even better on my record player! Johnathan Rice--where to begin? If not with this one, try his debut record from 2005, TROUBLE IS REAL. It's nocturnal, folky, ambitious in scope, and startlingly world-weary in its depth of lyricism and singing for a man in his early twenties. Some astonishing, spare acoustic guitar (especially the gorgeous "Behind the Frontlines" and "Acrobat" among others) mingled with perhaps some slightly overproduced rocking out, but these are minor quibbles to an astonishing debut album.
On FURTHER NORTH, what we get is an impressive album that rocks out, also with lyrical sensitivity, but there's more light to the darker content of the stories he sings, where wit and cynicism intertwine and compel the listener. "We're All Stuck," "Middle of the Road," "Further North," "It Couldn't Be Me," a particular standout, but the thing is they are ALL standout. It's useless for me to pick apart every song, but buy this album and you will listen and ponder and revisit the lyrics--It Will Grow on You--if you're someone who likes good ole rock-folk-blues that doesn't call for pro-tools or the high-tech. In fact, the great "What Am I Gonna Do?" in its jingly way echoes The Beatles at times, and the final song of the album is superb. Rice somewhat echoes the gothic, noirish voices of Nick Cave or Leonard Cohen!
Also, I might add, Johnathan Rice superbly performed the bulk of this album live (plus a few others) as part of a support tour he's on I caught November 3rd, at the Crocodile in Seattle, WA. I caught this show just a week after I bought the album at Easy Street Records in Seattle, and spotted him a couple times as I was perusing the concert posters outside the Crocodile--what a Dive! My only regret is that the standing room audience wouldn't shut up during the quieter moments, such as his Final Song! Honestly, I thing some of these people are just space fillers or something--dorks. I was enthralled!
Come back to Seattle, Johnathan, and keep doing your thing!"