There are several things a folk-pop singer-songwriter simply must do well to break free from the pack and connect with an audience. You have to compose well, sing well, and play well, yes\u2014but that only covers the baseline prerequisites. The difference between \u201canother singer with a guitar\u201d and a performer capable of captivating an audience is in the intangibles: what are you writing and singing about, and why? Commitment to the song, emotional investment in the lyric, and a deep-seated sense of purpose behind it all\u2014elements like these are what separate the special ones from all the rest. Oh yeah: and charisma, that invisible, indescribable quality that renders the audience unable to turn away.<\/p>\n
Dylan Galvin\u2019s new release Remember To Play<\/i> is slight as albums go\u2014at six songs, I\u2019d probably call it an EP, though Galvin doesn\u2019t\u2014but it\u2019s enough to gain a strong impression of an artist who\u2019s a hundred percent committed to his craft and determined to tell his stories in a way that connects. And while Play<\/i> is all over the place tonally, mixing themes of nostalgia, romance, playfulness and philosophy, it\u2019s all of a piece in the sense that it\u2019s all an expression of who Galvin is: a guy who\u2019s passionately interested in all of these things, and a dynamic performer to boot.<\/p>\n
The lighthearted \u201cRecipe\u201d kicks things off, a frothy tune that turns cooking into a song-length metaphor for romance. The combination of a catchy melodic hook and Galvin\u2019s total investment in the song is what makes it work; he sells what could easily have been an overcooked lyrical conceit with a sort of insouciant charm that\u2019s further buoyed by the sweet, snappy trumpet work of Matt Weathersby. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chesapeake\u201d shifts gears instantly, a lush, rippling acoustic number full of finely picked notes and nostalgic musings about a first kiss, infused with a keen sense of place, leading nicely into what feels like the heart of the album.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Hearts Approach The Great Divide\u201d finds Galvin bravely tackling the most fraught of subjects: his own parents\u2019 divorce. Galvin\u2019s website bio<\/a> reinforces the thread revealed more subtly in the song; the song isn\u2019t about a marriage breaking up so much as it is about traumatic events forging an even closer bond between father and son: \u201cYou and me amongst the debris \/ As hearts approach the great divide.\u201d While I might second-guess the decision to sing the choruses entirely in falsetto\u2014the words are plenty affecting on their own without adding that touch of pathos\u2014the song is thoroughly compelling.<\/p>\n As if determined to lighten the mood, Galvin pulls a tonal 180 with \u201cTire Swing,\u201d essentially the title track here, a call to leave work behind for a little while and remember to play. It\u2019s a sharply drawn and appropriately playful tune again fueled by Galvin\u2019s super-nimble acoustic work. Next up, \u201cDropping A Porcelain Heart\u201d feels like the weakest link here, with a rather on-the-nose lyric about a player who suddenly realizes that actions have consequences; it\u2019s artfully executed but doesn\u2019t feel like it adds a lot to the conversation.<\/p>\n Closer \u201cWhy Would The Devil Be Jealous Of You\u201d delves into philosophy and theology, deconstructing the Garden of Eden story and ending up feeling like sort of a cross between Jon Foreman<\/a> and Jon Troast<\/a>. Here the falsetto is deployed more strategically, underscoring a word or a phrase for effect in this rather heady, serious tune.<\/p>\n Remember To Play<\/i> is a little of this and a little of that, to be sure, but these six tunes suggest that Galvin is entirely capable of making a full-length album statement that\u2019s rich with varied layers and moods. Beyond playing well and singing well, Galvin does what all the best singer-songwriters do: he finds ways to frame personal experiences and observations that make them feel universal and relatable.<\/p>\n In the end what appeals the most is the honesty of these songs. Whether exuberant or philosophical, sad or flirtatious, Dylan Galvin delivers music from the heart, dynamic, authentic, and invariably engaging.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":33197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10018],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-45006","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-dylan-galvin","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45006","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45006"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}