{"id":25918,"date":"2023-09-02T05:30:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T09:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=25918"},"modified":"2023-08-29T10:37:38","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T14:37:38","slug":"album-review-scott-gagner-reverse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/02\/album-review-scott-gagner-reverse\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Scott Gagner \u2013 Reverse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-25919\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/scott_gagner_reverse.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/scott_gagner_reverse.jpg 350w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/scott_gagner_reverse-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/scott_gagner_reverse-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>When I reviewed Gagner\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/20\/hundred-word-reviews-for-september-2019-part-2\/\"><i>Hummingbird Heart<\/i><\/a> in 2019, I characterized the music within as \u201cintimate and melancholy,\u201d and noted the Midwestern character to the material. When I covered his 2021 release <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/30\/hundred-word-reviews-november-2021\/\"><i>BloodMoon<\/i><\/a>, I used the word melancholy again, and praised the album\u2019s variety. Now in 2013 Gagner returns with <i>Reverse<\/i>, an 11-song set recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. While there, Gagner wisely enlisted the help of Nick Frater; when his name appears, it\u2019s a trademark of quality.<\/p>\n<p>The music on <i>Reverse<\/i> calls to mind a less slick Coldplay, using classic keyboard textures to reveal a contemplative, meditative quality that gives the music a dreamy feel even when it\u2019s upbeat. Creamy vocal harmonies adorn Gagner\u2019s soundscapes, and a strong pop sensibility informs the material. Inspired touches like a horn break (instead of a guitar solo) on \u201cFriend Like You\u201d showcase Gagner\u2019s subtlety and taste.<\/p>\n<p>The bouncy \u2018My Glasses\u201d is remisncent of ELO\u2019s \u201cMr. Bglue Sky\u201d but with a more intimate character. Listeners who appreciate the finely wrought arragement of mid- to late-period 10cc will enjoy the vibe of Gagner\u2019s songcraft. And while it\u2019s not his default approach, Gagner can rock: he does just that on the propulsive \u201cSunless Saturday,\u201d adding more great vocal harmonies and some understated but highly effective synthesizer work.<\/p>\n<p>That <i>melancholy<\/i> word still applies to Gagner\u2019s craft: \u201cJesus in Reverse\u201d is a spot-on soundtrack for a misty, moody day. He wears his heart on his sleeve with \u201cChristine McVie, a nice song with an arrangement that sound exactly like a <i>Rumours<\/i> outtake. Remove his vocal track and it could fool most anyone into believing it\u2019s an unheard rough mix form the giants of soft-pop easy-listening \u201870s music.<\/p>\n<p>The album\u2019s outlier is \u201cThere Was a House Here,\u201d with a vaguely menacing vocal character and an insistent electronica-inflected rhythm. It sounds like nothing else on <i>Reverse<\/i>. Listeners will either be impressed by the ease with which Gagner shifts styles, or unnerved by its out-of-placeness. More in character is the lovely \u201cGoodbye,\u201d built around a soft yet impassioned vocal and crystalline piano.<\/p>\n<p><i>Reverse<\/i> concludes on a strong note with \u201cFootprints,\u201d a song that brings together all of the artist\u2019s strengths into a single tune. Gagner\u2019s skill at crafting catchy arrangements with just the right sonic details makes his latest release another in an unbroken string of pop delights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I reviewed Gagner\u2019s Hummingbird Heart in 2019, I characterized the music within as \u201cintimate and melancholy,\u201d and noted the Midwestern character to the material. When I covered his 2021 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,65],"tags":[3979],"class_list":["post-25918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-pop","category-review","tag-scott-gagner","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25920,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25918\/revisions\/25920"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}