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Reviews: Travis Dow ~ Back to Nowhere
Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2007 @ 15:30:42 PDT
Topic: Reviews
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Artist: Travis Dow
CD: Back to Nowhere
Home: Portland, Oregon
Style: Folk/Pop
Quote: "Ultimately, Dow's music settles him comfortably into the talented acoustic folk-pop realm."
By Jana Pochop
Travis Dow is a multi-faceted singer/songwriter who has clearly seen enough of life to write about it well; he's spent time in San Francisco, Nashville, Chicago, and now calls Portland home. His latest release, Back to Nowhere, is as varied in style and influence as his address history. Ultimately, Dow's music settles him comfortably into the talented acoustic folk-pop realm.
The album kicks off with "Lonesome Day," a laid back acoustic tune with a little bit of a gospel-ly lift to it, except it retains of purity of "depressing folk song" in theme ... "leave the light on, it's a lonesome day." We've all been there; Travis sings like he knows it. "Certainty" is a mellow track with a nice, jangly, almost sitar-like 12 string sound and a haunting melody ... cello accents bring it all together. The words are sparse: "I know the sun will rise; I don't need a reason." Simple and beautiful.
"2nd Sunday" is reminiscent of Five for Fighting, Josh Kelley or some other Top 40 oriented sound. Dow's voice is on par with any of those comparisons and contains the key qualities of professionalism and intimacy not always found together these days.
Overall, Back to Nowhere is a rich, textured album that crosses genres but in a way that does not make you think "what the heck did I just hear?" Back to Nowhere gives the impression that Travis Dow could do a full album of any of the genres his music intercepts, and it would be great.
Artist Website: http://www.travisdow.com
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