“I hang my coat on any old hook, but I prefer the second from the left,” Liam Kazar sings on the opening track of his fun, funky, and solid debut album Due North. The album mixes a lot of influences, sometimes sounding like a Warren Zevon album, other times like a Lindsey Buckingham or Joe Jackson record, but most of the time like Kazar’s groovy self. It’s the kind of album that makes you want to hang out with him for a night just to hear his stories.
That opener, “So Long Tomorrow,” blends Kazar’s rock guitar with a groovy bass line and his witty lyrics as he tells himself, and the rest of us, to stay in the present. “Old Enough for You” bumps and bubbles like a witch’s brew created in a disco, with Kazar singing about trying to be hip and refined in order to impress a potential lover. The sassy, swinging “Shoes Too Tight” was one of my favorite singles of 2020. The whole thing grooves in a way that is hard to describe and impossible to ignore.
“Nothing to You” mixes some alt-country twang into the record while Kazar sings about pining from afar for someone who barely knows he exists. “On a Spanish Dune” starts off like a sad synthwave track and then transforms into a meditation on the self. “Everybody’s asking me what I’m going to be. I couldn’t tell you if I tried. I’m just a poem with an open line,” Kazar sings – and sums up presence and ennui in two sentences.
“The clouds are coming over, but I shouldn’t be surprised,” Kazar sings on “Frank Bacon” – a snappy, slick track with some smooth guitar work from him and plenty of lyrics about realizing you have to play the hand you’re dealt and make the best of it. “I’ve Been Where You Are” has synthwave touches while Kazar let’s us know that he’s been in the same boat of the blues as we’ve all journey on from time to time.
The slightly countrified “No Time for Eternity” has some of Kazar’s best vocal work (with help from Andrew Sa). He keeps it simple, which gives it more impact. “Give My World” takes on a bluesy feel with its lyrics and guitar work, but then becomes something dreamy with the use of bird calls and psychedelic synths. “It seems I haven’t changed, half as much as I’ve let you down,” Kazar sings in a brutally honest self-appraisal. The synths turn into church organs on the closer, “Something Tender” – a song about realizing that enabling and embracing illusions, especially those in relationships, ultimately leads to misery.
Due North is a stunning debut, and easily one of the best debuts I’ve heard in a while and one of the best albums of the year. There’s nothing here you won’t like.
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]
