Although I have never tried drugs in my nearly 30 years of
\nwalking this planet, I think it would be a safe thing to say that
\nInhale<\/i>, the debut release from Los Angeles-based songwriter
\nJames Michael, is the equivalent of a good joint.<\/p>\n
How can little “Mr. Clean Living” make such a bold claim?
\nSimple: This is an album which is to be savored in private, then
\nshared with as many people as you can before claiming it back for
\nadditional pleasure.<\/p>\n
And, truth be told,
\nInhale<\/i> (scheduled for release on September 12 in America)
\nmight be the kind of disc that you’ll want to “bogart,” keeping all
\nof the disc’s 12 pleasurable tracks for yourself. But, c’mon, this
\nkind of thing has to be shared with everyone you know — even
\npeople you’ve never met before.<\/p>\n
Handling most of the album’s chores himself (including playing
\nmost of the instruments), Michael opens his soul and pours it out
\nfor almost 43 minutes, revealing more raw nerve endings than an
\nepisode of “Trauma: Life In The ER.” Whether some of the songs deal
\ndirectly with use of, aah, certain substances, you can determine
\nfor yourself. I tend to think that tracks like “Inhale” and
\n“Chemical” are more metaphors for the way certain situations in
\none’s life can become addictive.<\/p>\n
Michael’s voice is solid with just a touch of rawness to it,
\ngiving his blend of rock music a solid kick in the tush that one
\nrarely hears these days. With tracks like “January,” “Another Trip
\nHome” and “Down” serving as examples, Michael proves that his style
\nof rock is destined to be around for some time, and that it is
\nsomething which has been sorely missed in this genre.<\/p>\n
But Michael also dares to pay homage to the New Wave which he
\ngrew up with, coming in a cover of Joe Jackson’s “Is She Really
\nGoing Out With Him?” It’s a track of Jackson’s which has been sadly
\noverlooked over the years (despite it being his first real hit),
\nand Michael does it justice in many ways. If anything, Michael’s
\ncover may just serve as the spark to re-awaken interest in
\nJackson’s music.<\/p>\n
\nInhale<\/i> is the kind of album you’ll immediately get hooked on
\nwith one listen, but it is with repeated listens that its sheer
\nbeauty is revealed. Tracks like “Simple Thing” and “Inhale” are
\ngreat the first time around, but you’ll undoubtedly pick up
\nmessages the second or third time that you just can’t get in one
\nshot.<\/p>\n
\nInhale<\/i> is the album that Michael was born to make, and even
\nif he never tops this release, we should all be thankful that he
\ngot the chance to record and release it. Here’s hoping this is just
\nthe beginning of a rising star in the rock scene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6389],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36723","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-james-michael","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36723"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36723"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}