If the word 'Magic' conjures the idea of something special and indefinable, then it's well-chosen, for SEAN ROWE'S album of the same name is certainly shot through with an indefinable something which will draw you back time and again.
I must confess that I knew precious little about Rowe beforehand. According to his website, he seems very pro-nature, but he's an urban NYC-based singer/ songwriter with an intriguing, personal style and one hell of a voice which immediately sets him apart from the average singers'n'strummers.
'Magic' is pitched somewhere between an intimate guitar and vocal record and a full band affair. There are only three tracks that feature a 'group' sound as such and only car crash narrative 'Jonathan' represents anything like fully-fledged Rock'n'Roll. Although it's quite different in design, 'Magic' actually reminds me a lot of a record like American Music Club's 'United Kingdom' in that it's mostly a relatively stark and skeletal affair, often soused in sadness but also capable of wry humour when you least expect it.
A good example of this comes on 'American', when Rowe sings "the kingdom of heaven is down at the Mall/ there's a coat for St. Peter, it was made in Korea." It's a disgruntled state of the nation address (a bit like a modern day equivalent of Phil Ochs' 'The World Began in Eden But Ended in Los Angeles') but Rowe's ability to distil some gallows humour from the situation is endearing and helps leaven the burden of his world-weary tunes.
Because there are certainly 'issues' going down here, even if they're not always easy to positively identify. Yet it's often this ambiguousness which is the most attractive quality at work here. 'Time to Think', for example, could be dealing with either alcohol-fuelled sexual tension or domestic violence ("that's not her car, it's just a sure reminder that she's almost home and that's a fact/ now you're drunk there's no going back" ÂÂ) but it's no less powerful or provocative regardless of which of those outcomes is true. 'The Walker', too, seems to be written from the point of view of a modern day hobo or flanneur, but it's not without that all-important wit either ( "I can only fit the Holy Spirit in this shopping cart") and it brings the smaller details of existence many of us completely ignore very vividly to life.
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As I hinted before, Rowe's other chief selling point is his voice and he uses it to great effect throughout. It's often deep and smoky and invariably dominates the mix, but it also gives him the versatility to do everything from wracked, Mark Eitzel-type confessionals ('Surprise', 'Wrong Side of the Bed') to the occasional Jeff Buckley-style soar (the conclusion of self-harm story 'Wet') and even the virtual trip to the Mississippi delta he takes on the wonderfully ancient-sounding 'Old Black Dodge'.
He winds up with an eternity-pondering song called 'The Long Haul which is the most drone-y and abstract thing here, but none the less engaging for that. It's a dreamy and almost Zen-like conclusion to a fascinating record from an enigmatic new talent with a way for describing his own work. This time round he's called it 'Magic'. The results contained within suggest that epithet's right on the money.
Sean Rowe official site
Collar City Records online
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