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Music Review - `What Kind of World?` by Arlan Feiles (jm)
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Arlan Feiles- What Kind of World? (click on image to watch video)
15 January 2020
From the opening, the title track of Arlan Feiles’ latest, What Kind Of World, it’s obvious the LA-raised/Jersey-based songwriter is showing no signs of turning his back on his unique brand of Americana, pulling in Gospel, Folk and Country Rock.
While it’s not too difficult to pull in his likely influences, everyone from Lyle Lovett to Guy Clark, it’s much harder to find contemporaries who are currently playing this eclectic mix of genres. The song themes here are a mix of personal – singing earnestly about his family – and political, like on “You Can’t Ban My Love,” a song that may lack the fiery backbeat of a Clash song, but is just as powerful lyrically, tailor-made for the current U.S. administration. Also stirring is folk duet “50 Years Of Kavanaugh,” one of the quietest, but most important moments on the album. And before you start to think the record is over-weighted with hefty themes, Feiles segues into the fantastic “If I Were A Dinosaur,” a Dr. John worthy piano boogie that shows off his impressive voice better than almost any song in his catalog.
Not every track here is flawless, (the lyrics of “Layla,” for example, are beautiful, but the execution is plodding), but when he does manage to align the music and the words, which is often, the result is simply sublime, like on the title track or the country rock “I Know A Song To Sing.”
John B. Moore has been covering the seemingly disparate, but surprisingly complimentary genres of Americana and punk rock for the past 20 years.
Blurt/New Noise Magazine/InSite Atlanta/NeuFutur Magazine
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