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Sound Proof:
Self-Titled
Now heres a real musiciansomeone who still sees his songwriting as a growing, evolving craft. Combining Latin, Jazz, Rock, Blues and improvised jams, Jason Hanley catches on a groove and shapes it. He has a very expressive style of playing, really losing himself in his music. Singing straight from the gut, he has a very strong, captivating voice used for more message-oriented stories. Sound Proof, as far as I can tell, is most often a trio of accomplished musicians led by Hanley, streaming ideas back and forth to each other in a jammy environment. The entire album moves forward as one extended piece, incredibly organic, and each track sounds more like a movement than a single. Within the extended improvised sections, there doesnt seem to be too much structure; theyre more experimental and open to ideas and space. In most tracks, there is a good base laid down by a clear, brilliant acoustic guitar and accented by subtle percussion. A lead guitar shines overtop of that base creating beautiful, moving melodies. A harmonica dances in and out of most tracks, wavering and toying with the rhythm and even sounding strangely similar to a violin at times. Each track stays fresh with tempo changes and instrument changes, but it all stills fits together like a colorful puzzle. The production on the album is outstanding; the sound is very crisp and clear. There is a wonderful use of space and channel panning throughout the entire recording. Screamin is a great Indian-tinged track with floating chant vocals haunting the background, moving the lead guitar along. They employ an intriguing rhythmic scratching/rattling of acoustic guitar strings in this and a few other tracks. I always wonder how and why musicians choose certain distortions or tones for their leads; this album completely threw me off. Where did he get the idea to lay a buzzsaw-distorted, reverb drenched lead over an acoustic rhythm, and an epileptic harmonica over a soft percussive progression? I dont know, but it sounds absolutely brilliant, and it all works together ridiculously (check out Brothers). Blasted Back is definitely a bit more funky; theres a beautiful Latin-laced acoustic guitar and piano rhythmic duet happening that gets cut in half by a surging, wandering, distorted guitar line. In the following track, he drops back down to a softer, more emotional guitar and harmonica number, keeping the album moving. I dig his voice, but I absolutely love the instrumental sections, and there are plenty of them. I give it asolid.
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