BY JOSEPH DEBELL, OPINION ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
photo courtesy of @zachlanebryan on Instagram
Stars courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Zach Bryan’s self-titled album arrives amid a significant moment for country music, where chart-toppers have ranged from cloying love songs to regressive political statements. Zach Bryan’s latest effort is easily one of the better country records this year despite having some slow-burns that don’t pay off.
Clocking in at 54 minutes, this album, with its 16 songs, explores themes that revolve around Bryan’s addiction and struggle to keep moving forward. The theme, while simple, is overwhelmingly present in the track “Overtime.” The lyrics on this cut have more to talk about than other songs on this LP.
“I just decided I ain’t keepin’ quiet and I’m free/ I lost my family to a bad disease/ I got a mean, mean gene in my family tree/ That grows in grandfather, and his daughters, and me, you see?”
“Overtime,” and many other songs on this record, show Bryan’s best traits as an artist: his authenticity and ability to be comfortable while having vulnerable lyrics. The song is full of twangy Chris Stapleton-sounding production that complements Bryan’s naturally raspy vocal leads.
“Fear and Friday’s” is a love song that features some background crowd reactions to give the impression that it’s being performed live. The array of production on this song is immense and is reminiscent of some of the qualities Bruce Springsteen had.
The multi-phased ballad “Jake’s Piano – Long Island” is one of the highlights on the record. Here, Bryan belts about some past times he had at a bar with a friend who’s no longer with him. Bryan’s vocals on this song are emotional and reminiscent — something that’s not novel for him, but Bryan gets a lot out sonically speaking on this track.
Even though the album features timely guest appearances from Kacey Musgraves and The Lumineers, the record isn’t without flaws. Songs like “Tradesmen” and “Tourniquet” have a skeletal approach that makes the record feel longer than it is. The reverb on Bryan’s vocals in “Tradesmen” offsets and distracts from the natural feel the record had going for it. Bryan executed this type of song correctly earlier in the record with “Summertimes’ Close.”
That tends to be a theme with Bryan’s records: The longer they are, the more bloated they are. In this record specifically, the soft and sentimental refrained outros to each song are initially sweet but just come across as predictable and uncreative songwriting the more they happen.
Despite its mistakes, it’s an excellent execution from front to back and is a more palatable upgrade from his last two-hour marathon, “American Heartbreak.” “Zach Bryan”(Self-Titled) tells a smoky and pensive tale in a genre renowned for storytelling.
debelljb22@bonaventure.edu
