Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 3.5/5 Released: May 29, 2007 Reviewer: Trent Depue |
By the time the first half dozen notes have sounded, one can easily venture a guess at just what the general mood of Nathan Wiley’s The City Destroyed Me is going to be like. Yes, these ominous tones are telltale signs of what Wiley and producer Steve Berlin both admit is darker material, hand picked from the scads of songs Wiley had prepared prior to starting work on this album.
And though the music and lyrics can be, at times, a bit unnerving, the work has been done masterfully. Intricate musical compositions, many boasting a seemingly endless multitude of instruments, are spearheaded by Wiley’s and Berlin’s respective guitar and keyboard work. And while the more boisterous songs are great, they do not overshadow some of the more simplistic tracks. ‘One Bad Woman’ is a back to the basics blues number while on ‘Back to Bed,’ Wiley makes his voice the main selling point with a minimalist approach to the musical content.
Lyrically, his prowess is at its best on the title track where the small city Maritimer declares his distaste with big city life (“Too many eyes in the park / too many needles in the daytime / too many goons after dark / the city destroysâ€), and even more notably on his attack on the nature of consumerism in North America on ‘North American Dream.’ Bring the whole thing together and you’re left with a record with a level of consistency that stands as a testament to his talent, and regardless of the foreboding nature of The City Destroyed Me, this one is well worth a listen.
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