Belatedly finding its way to the UK, Rabin’s debut album belies an extensive musical background that began at age five when his grandfather, the Concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, taught him to play fiddle, and subsequently saw him involved in a diverse range of projects, from orchestra to jazz to prog rock. For this, however, he’s firmly focused on upbeat poppy Americana, playing everything but drums (with a couple of upright bass contributions from Dan Kristan), opening with the scurrying slide, banjo and organ underpinned title track evoking thoughts of both Paul Simon and Justin Rutledge before, guitars to the fore, taking a rockier direction on ‘Eight Trips Around The Sun’.
The pace slows for ‘A Memory Forever’, allowing more chance to appreciate warm softness of his vocals, the number gradually swelling on an organ wave towards the end, adopting a similar approach on ‘I Remember Last December’ where simple voice and acoustic guitar give way to harmonica and then a full orchestral finale.
It’s back to countrified rock on the 12 string driven ‘Not Heart Broken’ and, while ‘Old Man In The Rain’ feels a little too generic with its big guitar solo, he’s back on form for the Celtic and bluegrass fiddle fills jaunt of ‘Nothing I Can Do’, the album closing out in stadium rock style with ‘Ride The Wheel’. Not, perhaps, for those of folksier inclinations, but a promising new entry into the Americana rock mainstream.
Mike Davies
Artist’s website: http://www.jaredrabin.com/
‘Whiskey Before Breakfast’:
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