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Trey Nix:
The Art in Me
Trey Nix is a young, Southern singer-songwriter with a raspy voice that falls somewhere between Bruce Springsteens and Melissa Etheridges. He calls it a rich sand paper voice, and indeed, it does sound like sound paper, only it isnt rich, having none of the dynamism or world-weary depth that make the two aforementioned artists so powerful in their delivery. This needs to be mentioned upfront, because its hard to enjoy this kind of music without a good voice leading it. Nix writes fairly straightforward acoustic rock-lite, using electric guitar, bass and piano to add a little bulk to the mix, but always keeping the focus on his acoustic and his voice. Certainly there have been some less-than-pleasing voices in the history of popular acoustic music, with Bob Dylan the most obvious example. But in Dylans case, ingenious melodies and famously poetic lyrics make it easy to forgive the pesky vocals. Moreover, Dylans singing feels meaningfully flawed; there is so much character in his craggy, weather-beaten delivery. Nix, on the other hand, is for the most part crafting toss-away melodies that wont stay with you even minutes after the album has ended. Additionally, his lyrics leave loads to be desired. Take, for example, the ever-repeating chorus of track three, Up All Night: Shes magical yeah shell spin ya around / Shes mystical oh shes not to be found / Shes wonderful oh shes a pleasant surprise / Shes beautiful shell keep you up all night. When are sensitive guys gonna stop spewing this trite nonsense? Nix continues right on with more of it in the very next track, simply called Beautiful: All her originality comes from within / And oh to hear her talk makes time disappear like the wind. OK, we get it: shes great, youre deep enough to notice, and the world is a pretty darned marvelous place. But honestly, the average critical listener isnt even going to get that far with these songs, as Nixs voice especially when he tries to warble in falsetto on a few key words for maximum impact is just too strained and artificial to see past. Sometimes empty sentiments can still sound pleasing to the ear (see Jewel), but that just isnt the case here. Thankfully, the final track, Song of a Soldier, holds at least a few pleasant surprises, most especially a truly lovely violin part that makes for the most memorable melody on the entire album. (Too bad whoever played it gets no credit in the albums liner notes.) And although they too still are quite amateurish, the lyrics finally swerve away from compliments for Nixs neighborhood love, this being a heartfelt requiem for all the youngsters who anonymously perish on the battlefields of the world. Its the first and only time on The Art in Me when content and composition are (almost) able to overshadow the distracting vocals. While it wouldnt be surprising to see some of these tracks succeed on Adult Contemporary radio, perhaps snatching up Brian Adams or Five for Fighting fans, if Nix wants to make a lasting impact, hes going to need more life experience, some lessons in songwriting, and a lot of water to lubricate that desert landscape of a voice hes got. Whoever dreamed Jack Johnson could be like an oasis?
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