Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

You have to give Fiskum some credit.  Actually, a lot of credit.  He has his Master’s in music, and when he lived in Boston, he got a pretty decent amount of radio play.  And then he stopped entirely.  He had a tendon problem in his hand, causing it to numb and, as one would imagine, make playing an instrument a little more than difficult.  So he stopped playing entirely.  Nearly a decade later (as well as a couple surgeries and some physical therapy later), he’s back with this album, Darkness/Fire/Dancing.  Much like his own trials, it centers around the struggles people face, the amount of adversity one can face when following what one sees as their path, and the perseverance and strength one can find in the face of many obstacles.  His message is an empowering one.

He got his Masters in music, and it’s clear.  The instrumentation on his album is fantastic –reminiscent of Billy Joel, actually.  There’s plenty of piano, and, refreshingly, strings.  I’ve heard strings a lot more in the rock/indie genre lately in general, and I have to say I love it.  I can appreciate the instruments he chooses (among them the accordion.  Now there’s an instrument that needs a comeback, and I’m definitely not being sarcastic about that, that is one tough instrument).  His ability to use instruments you don’t usually think of when you think of indie music or rock music is impressive, and he’s put his talent and degree to good use. 

I’m not particularly enthralled by his lyrics, however.  Maybe I’m a bit too cynical, but I found myself thinking many of his lines to be somewhat, well, cliché.  Or, rather, because I feel like cliché is too harsh a word and, in the end, not really the one I’m looking for, I think maybe expected or predictable are better words to use.  There weren’t lines that surprised me or made me stop and think about the emotion/situation he’s talking about.  I also found myself keeping a distance from the songs because I wasn’t really drawn to his voice.  I’m no Diva, the best I can do is sing poorly in my shower, or, if you get enough margaritas in me, at karaoke (always regretted), but it sounded like he was trying to hard to make his voice something it wasn’t.  It sounded like he probably had a decent voice, but was fighting against it for some reason.  And that made me a bit uncomfortable, because I felt like he was uncomfortable. 

Don’t get me wrong, Fiskum has musical talent and drive and a hell of a lot of both.  For which I admire what he’s done; to get back up on the horse after it’s thrown him.  But for me, this album was not one I found myself falling in love with.  Though, perhaps, you will.