It seems to me that story songs are inadequate when trying to comment on modern times.
If Bob Dylan were starting out now, even his eloquent wordplay would not have as much impact as it undoubtedly did in the 1960s.
While Dylan was giving voice to the doubts and misgivings of millions and making genuine statements towards the need for change, he would be hard pressed to make such cultural inroads in our more cynical and disfunctional age.
If citing Bobness seems a weighty point of reference for a debut album by a largely unknown singer, I only make the comparison because in his press release there is the, apparently straight-faced, claim that Ali Eskandarian possesses "an uncanny vocal resemblance to Bob Dylan". Needless to say that this is a highly presumptious and inaccurate statement.
Still,if anyone is in a position to prove me wrong over the state of songcraft then it would be someone with Eskandarian's cross border background.
He was born in Florida while his Iranian father trained with the US for the Iranian Air Force. His childhood was spent in Iran where his father fought in the bitter Iran-Iraq war. His family sought political asylum in Germany and then Dallas Texas, and eventually Eskandarian navigated to New York to follow his artist ambitions and begin live performances in small clubs.
With such a dramatic biography,for Eskandarian to call his first collection 'Nothing To Say' has surely to be taken as ironic. On the other hand, it could be interpreted as expressing the limitations of conventional song structures.
None of this is by any means intended as a harsh criticism of the ten tracks on the album. On the contrary, they touch bravely upon weighty themes of love, doubt, loneliness, politics and war with a keen wisdom and wry humour.
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The tale of a 19 year old recruited to the army in 'Johnny Goes To War' has blunt lines saying how he may lose an arm or a leg "if he's lucky". The catchy 'Government Meat' is a kind of Country Joe style venomous singalong desperately pleading for state support in times of hardship.
The unfussy arrangements of acoustic and electric guitar are well thought out and when Ali declaress , as he does in Waking Up Is Hard to Do', that a young woman should "open up those pretty eyes", he is not urging her to get out of bed but to be more aware of what's happening around her and to stand up for something.
No, the crux of my argument lies in asking the question as to how to best articulate complex fears and deep emotions in words.
The reason this struck me most plainly on this album is because the most moving 'song' is the essentially wordless closing track 'Eastern Fancy'. It has simple acoustic strumming, a chanted voice (probably with some Iranian mixed in) but no discernable words. Nevertheless, in a little under three minutes this track highlights the limitations of all the well intentioned lyrics in the preceding tracks.
It's not that Eskandarian has nothing to say - far from it - but the final track shows that words alone cannot communicate experiences.                   Â
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