No artist wears their identity on their sleeve more than acoustic singer/songwriters. For rock bands, a singer is able to hide behind the giant, crushing riffs from the guitarist, while guitarists tuck themselves neatly away behind the drums. Rappers come close to the same level of exposure as the folkies, but they’re able to use varying flow styles and heart-stopping beats to conceal themselves from complete and utter vulnerability. Singer/songwriters offer a piece of themselves in every aspect of their play with an earnest, organic delivery (when it’s done right) that indicates to us the feeling that they’re experiencing within any given performance. Through words, we learn the framework, the setting of our story; through the music, the color of the emotion, the pressure in the room, the kindling of a connection between two people. And all of it is presented to us through a singular point of view of the songwriter and their own interpretation of how these feelings are actually supposed to feel.
If it sounds difficult, that’s because it is. But when someone with a great deal of talent and a charming enough personality comes along, it somehow seems to look a whole lot easier, and that’s precisely the case with indie singer/songwriter Phillip Broussard and his new record, Wavelength. You see, Broussard strikes me and a lot of other critics I know as the type of artist who doesn’t think a lot about his work before he steps into the studio to record it, and by that, I don’t mean that he’s a lazy producer. What I do mean is that Broussard knows that in order for good music to truly and fully blossom to its full potential, an artist has to get out of the way and let the work speak for itself. That means no bells and whistles, no ridiculous accents or sonic manipulations. Just music, clean cut from the strings and delivered unfiltered and ungarnished to the audience.
Wavelength is a five-song extended play that is modestly packaged and doesn’t contain any big special guests, remixes or even additional musicians; it’s just Phillip Broussard and his guitar, opening themselves (plural) up to us with no barriers or walls between us and them. Most artists, even singer/songwriters and folk acts, aren’t able to go as barebones as Wavelength is both in structure and in performance, and it’s only a testament to the tremendous amount of skill and confidence that Broussard is packing that he was even able to get through the recording sessions, let alone produce something that is as captivating, affectionate and memorable as this turned out to be.
I enthusiastically encourage anyone who loves folk/roots and all varieties of acoustic music to give this record a listen and see what this exciting young songwriter is all about. It might not be the glossy, polished pop record that you would expect to be the hottest hit of the summer, but it’s nevertheless introducing most of us to one of the biggest players in the future of his genre.
Find Wavelength on GOOGLE PLAY
-review by Jennifer Hurtzler