JASON SACK
Silver City (Orb Weaver)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Singer/songwriter hardly seems like a sufficient description of Minneapolis based Jason Sack. On Silver City, he's the singer, songwriter, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, harmonicist, producer, and engineer. Not quite a one man band, he has some help from drummer Brien Lilja and Eric Heywood's pedal steel sweetens the sound a bit. By and large, though, it's the Jason Sack show.

Pretty good show, at that. He drifts toward the Americana end of the pop spectrum, but the closer he stays to the center of his pop sensibilities the better he sounds. The best songs are the up-tempo tracks, full of optimistic jangle. On the slower tracks, his voice tends to veer toward angst , which is not his best feature, but the songs themselves are good regardless of tempo.

It's been five years since his band Beyond Zebra broke up after making the showcase circuit at SXSW and CMJ, only to get caught in one of the label consolidation crunches of the nineties. He's used the time to good effect, polishing his writing chops and his basement studio skills. This is his first solo outing and it's a promising one.

Track List:

Standin' In Line * Still Sayin' Goodbye * Down On River Road * Kinda Love * Ain't It Enough * Something's Gotta Hold * No Trace * Cold Heart * Child Of The Night * Julian * Silver City

© 2000 - Shaun Dale