Album Review: Bahamas’ Earthtones Scorches With Emotions
For years, Bahamas has trained his ear to create melodies that are stripped down in sound, but contemplative in focus. He knows how to make a track feel like an intimate, stirring bond between his voice and guitar. In his new album, Earthtones, that bond grows with a passion.
Earthtones is a fiery album that splashes with the brown and green tapestries that define nature. Mountains, forests, and jungles are built as Bahamas’ bawdy, folksy voice scorches with command, despite singing to a loss of it. “Alone”, “Bad Boys Need Love Too”, and “No Depression” frolic between ferocity and fragility, but never falter in showing Bahamas’ enrapturing voice. You only feel closer to him as a person/ artist with his ability to show struggling with your feelings IS to struggle in life. Relationships, dreams, and choices manifest and mold according to what you feel inside, and Bahamas’ feels out of control, but does not know whether he should accept, further, or fight that sentiment.
Bahamas – No Wrong
Do I feed, grow, or numb my sense of lost purpose? “Opening Act (The Shooby Dooby Song)”,
“So Free”, and “Show Me Naomi” all display the emotional decisions, and double Bahamas’ capacity to represent the burdens of sentiment. More than any of his previous albums, Earthtones feels like a full-force showcase of Bahamas’ voice and musicianship. Every track is clean and targeted be an emotional accompaniment to listeners, which is exactly music is about. As someone who remembers the best and worst parts of her life according to what song was playing at the time, Bahamas has made an album for people like me. Sometimes, we think we could compete with glass with how easy we shatter, and, other times, titanium looks weaker then how strong we feel.
Bahamas – Way With Words
There are moments, in Earthtones, when you will think Bahamas’ vocals and his guitar are breaking down into tears (“Any Place”) and then there are other times when you think they are about to start a soul train line (“Everything to Everyone”). Note that I talk about his voice and guitar as if they are one, but they truly come off as one in this album. Wherever his chords go so does his heart. Yet, no matter how we feel in life, we always someone or something to share our ups and downs. Bahamas’ Earthtones perfectly displays both effects, and is his best to date. To Buy Bahamas’ Earthtones on January 19 Click Here.
Bahamas – Bad Boys Need Love Too (Audio)
