Written
by David Shouse, posted by blog admin
Michael
Askin was once known as strictly a guitar player. Laying down 6-string work in the bands Divine
Sign and My State of Attraction, Askin had a singer/songwriter bug biting him
and began composing a big batch of solo tunes.
He finally dropped the first barrage of songs on his 2013 debut Single Step. Flash forward four years later to 2017 and
Michael is three releases deep into a respectable solo career with his newest
album Road by the River. Here he has reached the summit of his vision;
a sky-high mountain where folk, country, rock, blues, pop and film soundscapes
coalesce into a sonic brew that packs as much melody as it does a gravelly
bite.
The
lead-in cut “Road by the River” is the title track and it does a great job of
setting the stage for the rest of the EP.
Its nimble country gallop draws some of its blissful, uplifting acoustic
boogie from not just country but also bluegrass. Brush-tapped drumming and roots-rich bass
bends are coupled to multifaceted acoustics and just enough electric buzz to
give your house foundation a subtle shake while Askin wrings honey from every
inch of his vocal chords for the sake of powerful, melodic song construction. This piece is the literal launch point for
every stylistic mash-up to follow over the course of this
extended-play’s five glory-bound jams.
What “Nashville” holds back in tempo it makes up for in the sheer number
of guitar flourishes present throughout.
Surges of heavy electric walk hand-in-hand with ripping country twangs
and suave steel guitars as the vocals and rhythms bat eyes at the blues. This song could have been beamed in directly
from the country rock, heartland Nashville and blues heavies of the early
70s. It has that same sweat n’ swagger
to spare; topped off by Askin’s original, mad scientist crossbreeding of these
several different yet musically congruent genres. Offering up an even crunchier, crispy take on
slamming hard country rock, “Sun Going Down” is a storm of impactful power
chord riffing, acoustic lamentations, pulsing rhythmic tremors and Michael’s
sweat-drenched vocal soul. It’s hard
grooving, atmospheric back break runs off like rainwater into the likeminded swelter
of “Hard to Make a Living” and it’s penchant for the same type of
multi-instrumentalism. Hammond organ and
prominent synthesizer (especially felt on finale “Last Train”) raise the stakes
on the EP’s downright award-winning trio of songs.
Askin
is truly an old soul when it comes to his music and his implementation of ideas
that started fading out during the end of the progressive rock era when having
an organ player in your band or playing one yourself became a thing of the past
as the 80s came into view. Michael knows
how to take his music back to a bygone time without sounding cheesy, no matter
how he incorporates these things into his sound. It’s for these reasons that Road by the River stands out in a
crowded 2010s pack where a lot of stuff is starting to sound the same. Thankfully, Askin’s grand work across his
three EPs doesn’t suffer from that problem and his music is well-worth your
listening time.
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