The Cobalt Season Review.

The Cobalt Season (otherwise known as Ryan Sharp & friends) just released their new album . . . In Search of a Unified Theory along with a revamped website. The title of the album . . . In Search of a Unified Theory . . . is what most people refer to when discussing String Theory. Which puts the album in my good graces before I even listened to it, considering my mild-infatuation with quantum mechanics.

The album as a whole feels much deeper and more developed than his previous works. I hate to even us the word . . . but it feels “mature”. The songs feel “fuller” and “rounder” musically. The lyrics even seem more “grown-up”. Whereas their first albums had a very “folksy”, living-room feel . . . this album relies on piano and multi-layered instruments (I think I even picked up a little banjo action) to create a vibe that is subtly different. While it’s still “folksy” and very much a “living-room” kind of album . . . it sort of steps away from the cliche of indie-folk and moves into a deeper area. Songs like Something True and Home express that better than anything.

If you aren’t familiar with The Cobalt Season or Ryan Sharp . . . you need to get acquainted. In a market where everything sounds and feels the same and where the majority of the voices drivel away about lost romances . . . a voice like The Cobalt Season carries with it a certain weight. Not only prophetically critiquing the American Dream but creatively imagining more hopeful alternatives. It’s hard to find an album that can do either of the two very well. Let alone do both at the same time. If you listening to an album heavy on deconstruction you just end up pissed off. If you listen to an album heavy on imagination (which are rarities themselves) you just end up in the clouds. With In Search of a Unified Theory both tensions are held together rather nicely. It fits. And doesn’t feel forced.

And I hate to say this because I don’t want it to make it seem like the album is boring . . . but it has such a lulling effect to it. It’s so relaxing. Not in a way that makes you want to fall asleep, but that makes you want to open a new tin of tobacco and light up the pipe while sitting under an old oak tree. And any album that makes me feel that is a good album indeed.

Check it out and buy it.

[tags]Music Reviews, Cobalt Season, Ryan Sharp[/tags]