Bouncing through Brooklyn

Music | Craig Greenberg: The Grand Loss & Legacy

Tomorrow, New York based musician Craig Greenberg releases his first full length album ›The Grand Loss & Legacy‹. MARTIN SPIESS listened to it.

grandlosscoverOne could argue that the era of piano pop is over. That all the Counting Crows, Ben Folds and Jamie Cullums only were phenomena of the 90s and the millennium years and that the rebirth of folk sent the piano to the background. One could exaggerate and say that after Billy Joel you can sit down to play the piano but you won’t (can’t!) make it better.

But – there is always a ›but‹ – on Craig Greenbergs debut ›The Grand Loss & Legacy‹ the majestic sound of big piano melodies flashes once again, rocky and edgy as well as strumming and soft. Although Greenberg dedicated the album to his late aunt and his late mother, there is barely any melancholia on it. On the contrary the album is defined by a (nearly too) optimistic drive. The »grand loss« surfaces in the lyrics of the 38-year old New Yorker, though, when he sings about breakups, which applies to most of the ten songs. After all, the piano almost invites to remember lost loves.

Crystal clear piano, bombastic band

In his best moments Greenberg sounds like the aforementioned gentlemen, especially when catchy melodies sit on top of a bombastic sounding band. Most of the time “The Grand Loss & Legacy” reminds of Ben Folds even when Greenbergs vocals sound like Randy Newman. Yet the overall sound stays the same: a crystal clear piano and a band that is nothing but pompous pop. Only the ballad ›I Should Believe in Someone‹ with its two solo steel guitars has a certain Country flair – and the listener is not imagining himself bouncing through Greenbergs home Brooklyn anymore but rather on a highway in a dusty Chevy, on the way towards the horizon.

Lofty, corny, quixotic

Craig Greenberg’s strength is his dauntlessness: one could argue that there’s kitsch and pathos here and there, but Greenberg doesn’t avoid topics that invite to gush – he looks for them. He dwells on broken love, on warnings about dangerous women and there is not a single moment of doubt, because there is no other way to sing about love: lofty, corny, quixotic. The era of piano pop may be over, yet Craig Greenberg does it like the French cartoon characters Asterix and Obelix: by offering unrelenting resistance. And by releasing a great debut album.

| MARTIN SPIESS

Ihre Meinung

Your email address will not be published.

Voriger Artikel

Erneuerte Demokratie durch Widerstand

Nächster Artikel

Splitter Kino

Weitere Artikel der Kategorie »Platte«

Folkdays…The Magnetic Fields

Musik | The Magnetic Fields/Stephin Merritt: 69 Love Songs Song um Song über Liebe und nochmal Liebe, Surrealismus, Realismus, Liebäugelei mit automatistischem Schreiben. ›69 Love Songs‹ und 46 Liebeslieder hat TINA KAROLINA STAUNER gehört.

Folkdays… Lambchop mit FLOTUS

Musik | Lambchop: FLOTUS »In the end I just really wanted to make a record that my wife would like,« verbreitet Kurt Wagner über seine aktuelle CD ›FLOTUS‹. Jedenfalls hat der 58-jährige Wagner, immerhin so was wie Musikergenius mit Lambchop, diese Veröffentlichung seiner Frau Mary gewidmet. Die Songs sind ein facettenreiches, komplexes Themenspektrum. Von TINA KAROLINA STAUNER

Lestander, Tolstoy & Co

Musik | Free Jazz, Folk & Impro: Schatzkästchen und Fundgrube Schweden »My aim as an artist was always simply to find and explore my own natural voice, my own conception of playing my instrument, and my music within the very generous but still style-founded field we call ›improvised music‹.« (Anders Jormin)

Our Love Is Dust: New Album Reviews

Music | Bittles’ Magazine: The music column from the end of the world Now that festival season is firmly upon us it can be hard to find music prepared to take chances, experiment, or which has a sense of emotional depth. Short DJ sets, unimaginative selectors, and impatient crowds mean that subtlety and nuance can be overlooked in the search for the next chant-a-long, or hands in the air anthem. This week I will be highlighting some music you are unlikely to hear at Space or Glastonbury, but which will challenge you and light up your day. By JOHN BITTLES

Dreiviertelblüter, Funketeers und andere Vögel

Musik | Toms Plattencheck Gerd Baumann und Sebastian Horn sind zusammen Dreiviertelblut. Der Name bezieht sich natürlich nicht auf ihre Begeisterung für Musik, denn sonst hätten wir hier ganze acht Viertel, soviel ist sicher. Er ist eher Verneigung vor dem hier überwiegenden Dreivierteltakt. Von TOM ASAM