Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Hogarth hard to classify, easy to like

THADDEUS HOGARTH

Trying to Believe

Spinning Records

Thaddeus Hogarth’s new album Trying to Believe is a music critic’s classification nightmare. Does he bring some sort of neo-recent jazz to his popish songs, or is that the slide of a funk riff we’re hearing behind his soft-spoken lyrics? Is he revisiting the smooth 70’s, or is that the influence of Nirvana? Was that a circa long-hair Paul Simon looking over Hogarth’s shoulder as he was composing, or is he sitting at a musical loom, weaving from all of these different sources?

Curses.

Classification’s aside, Hogarth’s Trying to Believe is a fun album, a smooth and relaxing disc that keeps a steady, almost frictionless flow throughout. Tight pop songs, not one longer than five and a half minutes, blend together on the 42-minute album.

‘I Just Wanna Be Like You’ features a Hogarth’s funked up guitar, with a throbbing bass that sounds suspiciously like Nirvana’s ‘In Bloom.’ Although chances are most people listening to this album probably won’t be big fans of that black-and-white song, it certainly is an effectively used, if not strange, choice for a first song.

‘She Loves You’ is the kind of song that cooler guys in the 70’s probably strolled down the streets listening to. A brilliant song with shades of Jamiroquai for the modern listener to compare against, the song’s slow, almost sultry feel, Hogarth’s ‘la, la, la, la, la’s’ with the funk bass in the background is a perfect mix.

But Hogarth’s real strength is the ability to switch between musical styles chameleon-like without losing the feel of his album – unlike so many artists who seemingly choose to jump from sound to sound without thinking of ways to keep it all together, Hogarth’s ability to jump around musically is perhaps his greatest strength.

He even samples the sweet sounds of Caribbean’s reggae on ‘Cold Shack,’ but mixes them with a Mississippi harmonica wailing and his own hard driving guitar. That song might be the hardest of a fairly soft-sounding collection, including ‘Thank You,’ a slightly built up lullaby, a sweet song of appreciation to some presumed lover. Perhaps it gets a little repetitive, but certainly not enough to kill the quality of the song itself, especially the way in which it crescendos at the very end, a perfect mix of jam and vocal styling.

Trying to Believe’s finisher, ‘Don’t Put it Down,’ is a Mississippi-tinged blues song, a harmonica and an acoustic guitar behind Hogarth’s song of rebellion. Whether or not it’s a patriotic verse is certainly up to the listener, but the song’s mellow revolt is like the album itself: an impossible to classify but easy to listen to sophomore effort that shouldn’t be missed.

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

All Massachusetts Daily Collegian Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *