Album Details

• Artist: Bryan Gorsira
• Album: So Far
• Label: Independent
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: carlito on 2011-05-18

For me, the singer-songwriter genre never gets old.  It's as timeless as Mozart.  And just like in classical music, some of course, is better than others.  Enter Bryan Gorsira as he joins the ranks of his folk-rock predecessors with the recent release So Far.

Ironically, one of the most intriguing songs on here is "Caught", which Bryan actually doesn't sing on.  I couldn't find the name of the woman's voice I was hearing, but her haunting performance had me captivated from beginning to end.  My absolute favorite tune on hear though, has to be "Carry Me Away".  Its bluesy fun-filled energy matches the humorous lyrics that are immediately accessible to just about everyone.  I love these two lines, "Got rid of the laptop, Oh my God, Kept my sneakers and my fishing rod" and "Got rid of my cell phone, I can't press pound, don't want to be reached, don't want to be found."  Good stuff right there. 

My major critique is that the album is a little off-balanced stylistically.  I'm all for nice surprises, but the singer-songwriter ballads tend to get boring after a while.  This is especially true when compared to the spicier tracks on the record like, "Carry Me Away", "Love is Pain", and "Wash Me".  My biggest problem is that the vocals sound tremendous on those songs while mediocre on the softer acoustic ones.  Yes, there is a certain heartfelt charm about the ballads, but I would have much rather preferred a collection of more edgier tracks like the three aforementioned, with the acoustic ballads placed more sparingly.  I'm a big proponent of sticking with what you do best, and I think Bryan Gorsira shines the most on tracks that have a little more umph to them.  But I still encourage you to go ahead and listen to So Far.  You'll find that a good song isn't that far after all.    

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