Hands up all those whose musical tastes extend to the intelligent singer songwriter? The kind of songwriter that looks in the mirror and sees more than himself. I’m thinking of the likes of Jim Croce or Harry Chapin here and Franz Nicolay bears comparison with them given the evidence of the songs on his album “Luck and Courage”.
Franz Nicolay is something of a storyteller in these songs though his tales read more like musical theatre. As life crumbles for the protagonist in “Z For Zachariah”, Mr Nicolay prepares a more than suitable last dance here and there is similarly much to commend in the sentimentality associated with loss described in “Job 35:10”. There are moments, however, when he can’t quite pull it off such as the rather awkward “Anchorage (New Moon Baby)” that stumbles right off the Broadway stage.
There is a lot to like here but I have my reservations with the sometimes awkward stylistic changes that seem more like musical doodling than providing the songs with the direction and focus that they need. A story is told undoubtedly but the path from beginning to end is not clearly signposted.