Andy Spitson's name might be an unfamiliar one for you, but I'm willing to bet you've probably heard of his bands. Between work with Spinderson and M28 (who just won the RAMI award for best contemporary Christian Artist of 2006) the odds are you've seen or heard him play. Now he has released his first solo album, Love's Not a Tough Start. This six track acoustic release is a good beginning of what will probably be a long career for this young musician.
This is one of those releases that definitely makes the name "solo album" deserved. Spitson plays all guitars himself along with adding some keyboards and vibes and the lead vocals. The only other person to appear on this CD is Cassandra Vohs Demann who provides additional keyboards, backing vocals and percussion.
The CD shows that Spitson is capable of producing catchy, folk rock songs that work pretty well. I'd say there are a couple of things he should work on for the next time around, though. For one thing everything seems to sound very similar. When it's only a six song EP like this that's not that terrible, but if he were to do a full album like this it could become an issue. So, I'd recommend learning to vary the material a bit more. Also, some of the mixing feels a bit rough. Perhaps a different studio or more time working on the mix would have produced a better-blended release. It's not a bad thing for most of the disc, but there are points where things don't seem to feel like they fit together. That is more a factor of the production than the songwriting. Having produced some multi-tracked recordings I can tell you that that's a matter of finesse and experience with the mixing board. It takes time and equipment to learn how to do it right. The effect here is not bad, but it does add just a bit of an amateur feel to a couple of the tracks.
Well, now that we've looked at the problems with the disc, lets check in on the strengths. As mentioned earlier Spitson has created a number of catchy tracks that definitely fit into the singer/songwriter folk sort of acoustic genre. They are sure to entertain fans of that style of music. He shows that he has a strong mastery of song craft and guitar work. While there is nothing here that's going to change the world of music as we know it, this definitely succeeds in entertaining. It's a very promising start for the career of this musician. Here's looking forward to more and better releases from him as time goes on. |