Nathan Xander - The Fear

Cover art + Tracklist:

1.October
2.Colors
3.John Wayne
4.The Alchemist
5.Trial By Fire
6.True Love Never Did Run So Smooth
7.Emerald Cities
8.Dark Horses
9.Martyr's Song
10.A Long One
11.Every rainy Day

Nathan Xander is a young Folk Rock musician who hails from Chicago Il, though born in western Pennsylvania. His second self released production called 'The Fear' is my choice for review of the month.

I picked this for my review because it is out of my normal music rotation. I'm not a big folk or acoustic listener but when I do I usually go right for the classics. For this review I chose to not sugar coat anything too much for my approach to Xanders latest production. Reasons being, One, I am a musician myself and would want the same. Second reason being when you are a folk writer/singer you are making a bold statement that is echoed through your songs, nothing more, nothing less. To be able to write songs from your heart and have the guts to throw that out to an audience takes a lot. To stand out however, your songs really need to hit home and unfortunately I did not get this with 'The Fear'.

I was not moved by his music as a whole or by his lyrics the way I would be by say Neil Young on his instant classic 'Harvest'. Yes that is an extreme apples to oranges but when the music is so simplistic it's gotta do something. Folk songs that are great and timeless take you to a certain place and a certain time that, even if you were not there or lived it, there is still a connection and that just comes from being a human.

Xanders lyrics are really his weak point, and to me that has to be the selling point. In the words of Lars Ulrich his lyrics are "Stock" He uses a lot of cliche words to set a scene like "highways" "sister" and my most hated "Angel" pronounced AIN-GEL. Mix these in with songs about heart felt angst, struggle and hope it really does scream cliche. Xander seems to try and establish a time and a place and set a scene that just feels forced almost like he hasn't really lived this stuff. I don't blame him for this though. We can't all be the troubled souls we wish to be.

He is however a good musician. He hits some chords that create some catchy tunes and he also played the piano and the harmonica on 'The Fear'. The second tune on the album, Colors, drip of 70's Folk Rock influence and he even displays some blues knowledge on the track The Alchemist, which was actually my favorite tune. It may actually benefit Xander if he just stick with song writing and let another singer/lyricist take over on vocals. You can tell he is trying to put on an almost Dylan-esque voice which was nothing to write home about.

The over all sound production on 'The Fear' is pretty good. It's not heavily processed and has a pleasant very natural sound. Personally I would have like to see better song organization. It was a lot of back and forth between slow, medium, slow, fast and so on, so you couldn't really get into a certain feel. As soon as you get into a chill frame of mind he speeds it up only to bring you back down.

Again this is not the type of music I listen to on a daily basis, and I think that if Xander keeps chugging away at this he will get better with time. To me being a folk singer takes a lot of perception to life and the world around you and how you can deliver it in a way that hits home for a lot of people. I was not one of those people, but maybe you are. If you like you some acoustic jams and Americana style music I would definitely give him a listen. He is currently on tour with some other musicians as Nathan Xander and Witchhouse. As for me, I'm just going to stick with Americas greatest hits.