“I’ve been chasing down this dream, for as long as I’ve known, sometimes I get to thinking that my life might be wrong”.
Those are the first two lines on “Think Myself To Death”, the first track of this new EP from Kyle LaLone. One of those chaps, it seems to me, that forgot more about music before he’d eaten his cereal this morning than I am ever going to know.
A graduate of the prestigious Berklee Music school – where I think from memory, Mike Portnoy met John Petrucci and formed Dream Theater – LaLone is good, we can take that as a given, plus he gets bonus points on this site for working with the fabulous Ben Bostick.
And yet, assuming “Something In Between” is autobiographical (and unless he’s a hell of an actor too, it feels real) he seems like he’s searching for something, anything, some kind of validation, somewhere, somehow.
Even the title of the five tracker indicates that. It takes its name from a line in the second verse of “…. Death” a real honky-tonk thing in the classic mould. The second one “Our Love” is the type of country song that people always imagine country to be. A breakup, a lap steel, a dirt road, and you kind of hope for a Stetson as it twangs. “Warning Signs” is better and, if I may say, a little less formulaic.
Acoustic, with some lovely evocative organ from Adam Popick (who co-produced it with LaLone), and harmony vocals from Emily Hulslander, it is confident and classy and shows all that overthinking at the start to be worth it.
He’s a fine songwriter, it needs saying. “Always Trying To Quit” lays some real personal demons out, in an incredibly matter of fact and oddly accessible way, and this type of thing might well be the blueprint for what he does in the future. I hope it is, anyway. His guitar work here is sublime too.
The last one of these has a kind of Eagles, west coast vibe, “I’m Not Gonna Drink Over You” has deceptively catchy shuffle, and those who do overthink, those who think of really profound things to say to their ex’s at 3am in the morning, words that will positively, definitely win them back, will recognise themselves here. I don’t drink, and for that I think we should all be grateful….
So has he found himself this time? Well that line from which “…Between” takes its name, is this: “I tried most every style around, looking for my thing” he muses. “I couldn’t decide how I wanted to sound or what I was going to sing. It wasn’t punk or hippy, it was somewhere in between, and now that I’m writing country songs, I don’t know if it’s really me.”
Yes, Kyle, it is. Stop thinking it over.
Rating 8/10
