Mark Kolezek & Jimmy LaValle - Perils From the Sea

Somehow the Wonder of Life Prevails - Mark Kolezek & Jimmy LaValle

Long song. Listen if you get a chance.

Really highlights both Kolezek's strengths and weaknesses. Opens very strong, and you should at least listen up until the first chorus.

Soft spoken folkster Mark Kolezek has returned once again to serve up interesting stories and soulful musical memoirs, but this time he's teamed up with Jimmy LaValle (of a band called The Album Leaf) to create an album with a twist - Folk-Electronica. While bizarre it might sound, it works. I know, I'm confused too.

I'm always a little half and half with Mark Kolezek. On one hand he's brilliant at telling stories and always has been - Gustavo, What Happened to My Brother, Somehow the Wonder of Life Prevails are three shining examples from the record. He's got a habit of making these strange stories from his life seem human, beautiful, highlighting the damage that the subject of his songs has suffered and the way it moved him.

Problem is though, his lyrics are simple, his rhyming ability is weak in places, and the songs he spends talking about his travel damage the record by creating uninspiring tales of how he's been to all over the world and can't create a human emotion from the trip, the absolute polar opposite of the songs he spends talking about people he knows. I swear to god, if I have to hear him sing about Copenhagen one more time, I'm going to go Dutch on his ass. Whatever that means.

Now the interesting and somewhat ground-breaking aspect of the album comes from the usage of electronic music to back Kolezek instead of his usual guitar, which is a folk standard. This hasn't really been done to the length of a whole album before but it works. It's simple, but beautiful.

I can't help but think, however, that it could have been done better. They've definitely broken ground with the combination but the music might be a little too simple and Kolezek's writing trailed off in places. Watch this album though. I guarantee this is going to set a little guy somewhere up to big things. Get on it.