Album, Single and EP Reviews


 

 

  The Places You Might Have Gone by Ryan T Jacobs


The Places You Might Have Gone cover art

Artist: Ryan T Jacobs
Title: The Places You Might Have Gone
Catalogue Number: No catalogue number
Review Format: CD
Release Year: 2009



Even though you find yourself living a long way from where you came from, as singer songwriter Ryan T Jacobs does, - he's from Oregon but lives in Germany - it would seem that there's no place like home.

Certainly there's nothing in the seven songs that make up his EP "The Places You Might Have Gone" to indicate absorption of musical influences from other cultures although it is reasonable to suppose that Germany isn't that different from the USA. He certainly gives a confident performance here making me think that this is what Chris Isaak would sound like if he took up residence in Nashville (try "Burn The Letters" for an example of this). Of the rest of the songs, "Amnesia" was effective and atmospheric underpinned by a curiously familiar guitar figure.

That's the main impression left by these songs - familiarity. It is like you've heard the songs before even though you couldn't possibly have done so. The emotional intensity of Mr Jacob's performance is obvious to all but the songs are just too close to each other. A fashionable and commercially safe approach but it is hard to stand out from the crowd that way.

 


www.myspace.com/ryantjacobs
Reviewer:
Review Date: March 16 2009