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Album Details

• Artist: Nik Freitas
• Album: Heavy Mellow
• Label: Future Farmer
• Year of Release: 2003
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-11-14

I knew the name Nik Freitas sounded familiar. Nik is a regular photographer for the long-running skateboard magazine, Thrasher. Heavy Mellow is Nik's sophomore album, following Here's Laughing At You. Now Nik writes and plays music that you wouldn't quite expect to hear coming from someone who hangs out at the skatepark everyday. Freitas' music is more along the lines of The Shins or a less orchestral Badly Drawn Boy. Tracks like "Treat Me Right" show that he has a perfect ear for catchy melodies. His voice is very unique, almost sounding like Jason Falkner but a little more nasally. The album opens up with a song called "Be Honest". I get a feeling that Nik is blatantly honest with his songwriting. My favorite track is the journey based "Nursery Street". I missed his debut album but Heavy Mellow is an impressive follow-up even if his debut was half as good as this. Always a tricky thing to do, his self-harmonies come off sounding so polished. His friend, Aaron Estes plays guitar with him and helped him out in other areas on Heavy Mellow. This could easily become a favorite album of the year if it sees enough stereo time for the rest of the year.

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