Dylan Connor - Breakaway Republic [Album]

Self-Release

January 24, 2009, 04:16 PM

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Ahh yes, the soothingly caramel-like tones of Dylan Connor, creating a panoramic view with story-like lyrics and a gentle voice. The nonchalant guitar strumming sways too and fro, like a breeze moving a fir tree. This wee acoustic, power popping Bob Dylan -loving Ben Folds- alike has created the debut album “Breakaway Republic”. Despite the album name sounding like a surf shop, it doesn’t have that waxed-wood smell or salt water harshness that it could. If you’re expecting Jack Johnson, then you’ll be disappointed. After all, Connor and his band (formed of Trevor Coen, Merritt Jacob, Drew Mckeon, Adam Sachs, Bryce Goggin and Joe Izzo) seem to have a little more excitement in their young talent than Mr Johnson, who sounds like he’s constantly swinging on a hammock and couldn’t care less about, well, anything.

So, the long awaited album. If you were to get Nada Surf, licked with some Ben Folds and covered in some of The Lemonheads special jelly and you were then going to put a blanket around them (just to soften them up a little), and make the lead singer sometimes sound uncannily like Gary Barlow [Take That], you would get Dylan Connor, the unsigned band from Connecticut. Dylan Connor has put together a winning formula, with the right amount of guitar and voice, whilst being not too heavy nor too soft.

Sometimes wiping the floor with a post-punk super mop, other times treating us to a lovely folky charm-offensive. The first track is “Breakaway and Burn”, the new single which has absorbed a fantastic amount of publicity despite the obstacle of them being unsigned. There’s a little John Mayer to this song and Connor’s voice is greatly sincere, and warm, as he tells us “it’s alright to burst into the light”. “Blood like Fire” begins with a wholesome train-like rhythm and deep country guitars, so very Johnny Cash. It’s the most country blues track on the album and a personal favourite of mine. There are touches of folk, as he tells us “we might get burned…… in the morning we scatter our own ashes on the ground”.

This is a lovely album. It’s comfortable to listen too, hits the right buttons and is just bloody well written. There’s a lot of fresh talent out there, however it’s a shame that when a large influx of crap hits the shelves, bands like this are left hidden at the back of the shelf where the money grabbing major label bosses forget to look because they don’t want to risk missing the next “mainstream” hit. But, as they often say, "c’est la vie".

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