Alex Rainer – Time Changes
Resonating Wood Recordings – 1 May 2020
Alex Rainer is a New York-based singer-songwriter who has been performing as a solo artist for a number of years. Time Changes is his first release since Pulaski in 2016. With his latest release, there is more emphasis on guitar and vocals with less accompaniment, and this works to great effect in highlighting the nuances of his compositions.
Lush guitar opens the album with The Animals which lyrically suggests a yearning for a retreat into nature to get away from the harsh realities of everyday life. ‘Who can I turn to, the animals?’ is like an internal dialogue in the search for comfort. The first single, Head Held High, is a sprightly, upbeat song telling us that the solution is perhaps within ourselves and not somewhere else.
Reflection is in the air with Summer Sun, an offer of help and support, very appropriate in these testing times where communities and help are in great demand – ‘We find our ways, use human reason, but if you need to, just reach out.’
Proof is a classic example of Rainer’s songwriting style, which can draw comparison to American classic performers. It’s an instantly catchy song which gently invites the listener into a story of adventure and the lessons which change innocence to experience.
My personal favourite is Up and Up Again, which is one of those songs that seems to have been around for years. Lyrically, it’s kind of cynical that the hope we give to others can sometimes be false, but we need not show that in order to ‘just get on with the show’. Such is life and indeed the show must go on.
Time Changes is a mature album which seems to meander between eras in terms of composition and lyrical style while portraying the sense that we are all transient and nothing is stable, and there is nothing truer than that.
Order via Bandcamp. Remember that Bandcamp is waiving their fees today (1 May) so that proceeds of all sales will go to the artist.
https://resonatingwoodrecordings.bandcamp.com/