Album Review: Sean Rowe, ‘New Lore’
Sean Rowe has spent the last few years on the road playing all sorts of venues: clubs, house concerts, barns, chicken coops, churches and more. His new album ‘New Lore’ was born from the strong connection Rowe has cultivated with his passionate fans. Rowe put out the call to his base via a Kickstarter campaign that made its goal in two weeks. The results delightfully surprised the Troy, NY native. “It was wild! I was really shocked and nervous, too. It’s always a risky thing to do. With Kickstarter you have as specified amount of time, in our case it was 30 days. Otherwise, you don’t get it. We were working off the fumes of being excited about the material and the hopes that we created a bond with the fans enough that they would wanna put their money down to make this record happen.”
The record itself is a masterpiece with Rowe’s dazzling songwriting leading the charge. His writing is strong enough to turn heads with lines like “But every time we fight/It’s like a Newton’s Cradle/We can’t be the flame forever/Forever’s not where it’s at.” If I’m honest, the line’s song title had me Googling “What is a Newton’s Cradle?” After the results popped up, I sheepishly thought “OH, THAT IS WHAT THAT IS.” Wow! To compare fighting with your partner to a little metal desk toy that demonstrates conservation of momentum and energy and which was named after Sir Issac Newton is just beyond brilliant. Well done!
On this album, there are 100 more examples of gems like the one described above, but let’s move on to what Rowe has accomplished sonically. He’s been known to experiment with different styles and dynamics, but this time around he is reaching a new level. The usage of background vocalists, vocal reverb, horns, woodwinds, strings, etc. is a triumphant accomplishment. For a vocalist who’s range is so deep (although Sean sings some sweet falsetto on “The Salmon!”), the instrumentation around him easily dances along. This album is riddled with intricate, interesting surprises that’ll reel you deeper into Sean Rowe’s fascinating world.
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‘New Lore’ is out now on Anti Records and available at iTunes and Amazon.com
