A lot of melodic rock these days goes under the radar and sometimes you just find a gem amongst the seemingly endless flow of unannounced product. In the ten songs here you get a real feel for a writer who loves a hook and a commercial melody and knows how to construct a memorable composition.
Opening song ‘Cry’ is a real case of putting your best foot forward but it’s also the song that makes you want to keep listening too, which is never a bad thing in these days of ever diminishing attention spans. Imagine you’re back in the glory days of light melodic rock where the song and the production were king and a big chorus resonated and forced you to sing and here you have it.
Jace of course might be a name familiar to some having written for one of my favorite recent finds FarCry. Here on his own album there’s a more melodic bent that elicits writers as diverse as Michael Bolton, Richard Marx and Rick Springfield as well as that classic west Coast singer-songwriter style like on thew wonderful ‘While We’re Here’ that has a country vibe and modern pop rock thrust.
Best of the rest though might just be the piano-led melodic rock gem ‘What If we Were Wrong’ or the wild card lounge-room funky ‘Don’t Talk to Me’ which adds real diversity to this mix. Then there’s the piano ballad ‘The Unknown’ a song that you feel with a bigger name driving it might have been a real radio-botherer. We’re half way in and I just realise that I’ve had to name-check every song and that surely is the sign of a great listen?
My favourite might even come in the second half as we see more wonderful piano on ‘We Don’t Know Anything’ which really nails that singer-songwriter vibe I mentioned with some lovely key-work. You can sail away on that one!
I can’t go without mentioning the great Melodic rocker ‘Renegade Heart’ closer ‘Little Star’ which again falls on soft keys and soothes your troubled soul. What a great listen this really is. If you love that gentle AOR feel this is for you.