Post by thesoundmonitor on May 8, 2004 4:29:21 GMT -5
BILLY BARRY
The Starlight Demos
(demo)
Nestled amongst the city lights of Athens, Georgia is an unassuming solo artist who goes by the name of Billy Barry. Like any number of singer/songwriters before him, Barry found it difficult to get musicians to commit to a full-time band, and thus was in a sense forced into becoming solo. Not that this is a bad thing overall. For The Starlight Demos shows plenty of promise if not consistency.
At 17 tracks The Starlight Demos is a rather lengthy affair (for a demo that is), but throughout the 35-plus minutes Barry philosophizes about love, life abd other dainty things. Vocally Barry sounds remarkably similar to Robbi Robb of Tribe After Tribe and Three Fish fame, especially in ‘Farther Away’. Musically though, Barry dips into the Eliot Smith pool of thought, with lowkey acoustics, bookended by Moby-esque key sequencing.
The discs highlight would most likely be the U2-ish ‘Pocket Full of Rain’ with its gentle, Rattle and Hum, repetitive flow, with Barry’s vocals showing great strength and diversity in the ability to minimise and playdown his emotions.
One criticism however is Barry’s compositions seem unfinished and a little meandering. Such an approach seems to work extraordinarily well for some (particularly Stephen Brodsky) but on a few tracks here it truly does sound as though Barry ran dry of an idea or two.
Given stronger direction and a surer sense of self Barry would no doubt be more effective. His skilful musicianship is obvious though there are a few memorable melodies to keep one interested for the disc’s entirety.
thestarlightdemos@yahoo.com
Warren Wheeler
The Starlight Demos
(demo)
Nestled amongst the city lights of Athens, Georgia is an unassuming solo artist who goes by the name of Billy Barry. Like any number of singer/songwriters before him, Barry found it difficult to get musicians to commit to a full-time band, and thus was in a sense forced into becoming solo. Not that this is a bad thing overall. For The Starlight Demos shows plenty of promise if not consistency.
At 17 tracks The Starlight Demos is a rather lengthy affair (for a demo that is), but throughout the 35-plus minutes Barry philosophizes about love, life abd other dainty things. Vocally Barry sounds remarkably similar to Robbi Robb of Tribe After Tribe and Three Fish fame, especially in ‘Farther Away’. Musically though, Barry dips into the Eliot Smith pool of thought, with lowkey acoustics, bookended by Moby-esque key sequencing.
The discs highlight would most likely be the U2-ish ‘Pocket Full of Rain’ with its gentle, Rattle and Hum, repetitive flow, with Barry’s vocals showing great strength and diversity in the ability to minimise and playdown his emotions.
One criticism however is Barry’s compositions seem unfinished and a little meandering. Such an approach seems to work extraordinarily well for some (particularly Stephen Brodsky) but on a few tracks here it truly does sound as though Barry ran dry of an idea or two.
Given stronger direction and a surer sense of self Barry would no doubt be more effective. His skilful musicianship is obvious though there are a few memorable melodies to keep one interested for the disc’s entirety.
thestarlightdemos@yahoo.com
Warren Wheeler