Being an ad writer
for a record label is perhaps the easiest job in the world.
Essentially, all one has to do is find a way to equate new, unknown acts
with popular, high-selling artists. Thus,
the music consumer is inundated with proclamations of a new
singer-songwriter who combines the ferocity of old-school
Metallica, the funkiness of Missy Elliott and the imagery
of Blonde on Blonde-era Bob Dylan. Or, in the case
of Seattle's Alex Woodard, someone whose press kit describes
him as sounding like David Gray or Dave Matthews.
Clearly, there are problems with such comparisons. The initial difficulty is that the aforecited artists sound nothing alike. One
is a neo-folkie Englishman with some electronic burbles, while the other is a hippie with a penchant for jamming. Therefore, to describe anyone as being "in the mold of" two extremely diverse and divergent artists does nothing to accurately describe the new artist's sound. And, more importantly, Alex Woodard sounds nothing like either one of them.
Woodard's sound is nothing new. It's the guitar-bass-drum combination that's been used, with minor variations, since dinosaurs and Buddy Holly roamed the Earth. On Nowhere Near Here, however, you'll find an artist who is in the early stages of mastering this formula --
and who may one day follow in the illustrious footsteps of others who have come before him. "Levitate", for example, would not sound out of place on an early Bruce Springsteen album, while "Better Day" recalls
Counting Crows in cut-loose-and-rock mode. "Rise" is an old-school ballad, a combination of piano, choral chorus and slow-building momentum, suggesting that Woodard spent a lot of time listening to '70s rockers like Kansas or Boston while growing up. None of the album's twelve tracks could be described as weak or lacking in musical oomph.
The overall impression established by Nowhere Near Here is that Woodard has a record collection, and knows how to use it. While this may not be anything new, it's still refreshing to hear someone who knows how to do it -- even if they show how misguided their own press is in the process.
