Friday, June 17, 2016

David Bazan - Blanco (Barsuk, 2016)

David Bazan
Blanco
Barsuk
2016

Rating: 7 brown napkins out of 10

I've not paid a ton of attention to David Bazan (aka Pedro the Lion) lately, but I've loved the guy for years.  Since college even, and I'm old!  Those first three Pedro records are permanently burned into my psyche, and I'm always happy to lend any new material the dude releases a friendly ear.  "Blanco" might be dressed up a little different with it's synth contortions and electronic drums, but at it's heart it still sounds like a classic Pedro the Lion album.  Bazan's deep, raspy voice, morose lyrics, and the the pacing of his songs dominate his sound no matter what name he records under or how much some tracks might superficially sound like Grandaddy ("Kept Secrets"), Peter Gabriel ("Trouble with Boys"), or Gary Numan ("With You").  I like it though, this additional layer of artificial melody peppering his songs...a little extra texture never hurt anybody.     

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