For most artists, experiencing heartbreak is the perfect inspiration for a piece of work. We take our emotions, whether happy and remorseful, and transcend them to expunge the pain, or be especially selfish and share your pain with others. Indie rock artist David Bronson recently released his debut album, Story, and it takes listeners through his journey of his heartbreak. Bronson is a great lyricist and his production tactics for the most part were on cue. On the other hand, his vocals are a bit nasally and under-trained, unless he distorted his voice in post-production on purpose, in which case it still didn’t sound great. Nevertheless, I would’ve liked to hear the lyrics more over the heavy riffs, and preferably by another vocalist.
It was evident from the start of the disc with “The Turns” that the instruments were solid with soaring guitar riffs. There were many moments where Bronson’s vocals were drowned out, which is fine by me. In the ballad “Us,” Bronson’s voice was layered with a female vocalist, who remains unnamed and not listed on the album. With the slower tempo and softer instrumentals, his vocals seemed to be less muddied. Pairing his vocals with a female vocalist complemented him and did more for his vocals here than on the rest of the disc.
Being a bookworm, I was naturally attracted to the theme of the album by is its title. The disc plays like a book and really features Bronson’s ability to write. His vocals did not do any justice for the excellently written lyrics. It was not a consistent album, which is frustrating when listening to. When the instruments were great, the vocals lacked sustenance, and when the vocals or lyrics were intact, they were covered up. In his second album, he might get it right all the way through.
In A Word: Inconsistent
