When Kelley Stoltz released Below The Branches in 2006 he came a step
closer to making some inroads in the UK, but now he’s gone backwards.
Last time around Kelley Stoltz leaned heavily on a Beach Boys/Beatles template
for 2006's Below The Branches, and they pop up here and there again.
Warm sunny sounds all created in his crowded bedroom. This time, it’s more indie,
and a little more self-indulgent for the 37-year-old San Francisco resident.
There’s a definite change in the songs’ accessibility. Stoltz seems to have gone
inward and the claim that this is a ‘pop album’ is way off the mark as was the
claim with Rufus Wainwright’s Release The Stars last year.
Theatricality plays a big part on the sparkling Everything Begins, and
yes, those Beach Boys harmonies ain’t to far away. Track 3, Birmingham
Eccentric (a newspaper as it happens) is actually about an old friend of
Stoltz’s, who still lives with his parents, is a jaunty little shuffle with
some nice moments.
Turning to a simpler format, clogging Gardenia is the best up to now.
It became a love song, though its origins lay while he worked at a video store
where the owner kept the flowers on the counter. Then pops up a Kinks-like
gem, To Speak To The Girl. It swings with an impressive twanging guitar, while
sweet Put My Troubles gives another nod to Ray Davies and co, fused with
the Fab Four.
Californian '60s sensations Love would be ‘happy’ to hear his Nearly Lost My Mind,
a definite flower-power throwback, and there’s further hippiness bolstering
the joyous Morning Sun.
Stoltz seems to draw greater inspiration from paying tributes, than honing his
own, distinctive style.
1. Everything Begins
2. Tintinnabulation
3. Birmingham Eccentric
4. Gardenia
5. Mother Nature’s Way
6. To Speak To The Girl
7. Put My Troubles To Sleep
8. When You Forget
9. Your Reverie
10. Nearly Lost My Mind
11. Something More
12. Reflection
13. Morning Sun
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
