Dan Rodriguez – 25 Years (EP)
Dan Rodriguez – 25 Years
URL: http://www.danrodriguezmusic.com/25years
The six song EP 25 years from Detroit born/Minneapolis based singer/songwriter Dan Rodriguez is another impressive musical work from a performer who has made a definite mark in an era when it’s increasingly hard for performers to break through to that level. Rodriguez accomplishes it through a mix of roots oriented arrangements, all led by electric and acoustic guitar, and conversational lyrics spiked with a splash of the poetic. Rodriguez recruited John Fields to produce the collection and the songs are enveloped with a warm, balanced sound that never hits any lulls. Rodriguez’s recording has a high level of professionalism belying his indie status and the overall package makes clear that Dan Rodriguez is passionate for presenting his songwriting in the best possible light. 25 Years is a release from a serious artist at or nearing the peak of his powers.
Rodriguez definitely strikes upon a certain sort of style for 25 Years. It comes across from the first. He gets a lot of mileage out of building songs from a base of spartan percussion, acoustic guitar, and Rodriguez’s voice into a full fledged band affair with hard driving, yet tastefully laid down, drumming and flashes of biting lead guitar. His songwriting deserves immediate plaudits based on this song alone – few writers can take the time tested love song and make it say something truly individual. He achieves much of the same effect with the track “You Feel Like Home” following the same musical template as the title song, yet it achieves a different result thanks to its settled flavor and the relaxed, R&B styled soulfulness that comes through in his vocal delivery. He changes direction a little bit with the song “Fire” and the jagged rock edge he brings to bear with that song sounds totally honest, never premeditated, and rates as one of the EP’s true highpoints. It’s impossible to not hear the inspired energy in Rodriguez’s voice.
“You’re Not Anybody” gives listeners a hearing of the higher levels of sophistication Rodriguez is capable of reaching while still connecting with his audience. Rodriguez’s songs wear their emotions on their sleeves, but there’s likewise no sense of him writing them with some sort of artistic cudgel, relying on the lowest common denominator to get them over with listeners. “Hero” is the EP’s peak moment. It’s here where everything about Rodriguez’s presentation comes together with uplifting power that he tempers just enough for effect. We get a longer than usual acoustic preamble, but once the song’s intensity begins to pick up, it’s a steady escalation towards memorable heights. The acoustic solo performance ending the EP, “Until the End”, is a clearly ideal closer for the release and achieves seamless eloquence in its dance between Rodriguez’s singing and crystalline sounding guitar. 25 Years is a relatively brief listening experience that maintains its focus throughout, but it has the overall impact that a full length release would make on listeners and few, if any, will walk away from Dan Rodriguez’s latest release feeling unsatisfied.
Photo Credit: Lucas Botz Photography
YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYSRbDKZHsw
Mindy McCall