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Cary Brothers All The Rage
Procrastination Music
Nashville native Cary Brothers got his big break when the unsigned singer/songwriter’s song “Blue Eyes” was used in the indie hit film “Garden State.” The plaintive love song was also included on the Sony released soundtrack, which was recently certified Gold with 500,000 units sold. Now Brothers, who strangely enough is still unsigned, has put out an EP entitled All The Rage through his own Procrastination Music. It’s a good introduction to Brothers’ pleasant songwriting, yet it also highlights his biggest weakness - i.e., that he lacks his own voice
Track listing:
01 Blue Eyes
02 Something
03 Supposed To Be
04 Honestly
All The Rage contains “Blue Eyes” plus 3 new songs, all of which remind me a great deal of Josh Rouse, whom Brothers owes an obvious stylistic debt to. Both artists cover much of the same musical ground, mixing 80’s influences (The Cure, Smiths, Psychedelic Furs) with more traditional folk leanings, though Rouse is a decidedly darker lyricist and a sharper songwriter overall. Comparatively, Brothers comes off as more vanilla and lightweight, though his songs are still enjoyable. Perhaps a better comparison would be Pete Yorn, who also writes some very good songs but delivers them in a somewhat anonymous fashion.
“Something,” the second track on All The Rage, sounds like it could have come straight off of one of Rouse’s first three records, although Brothers adds something towards the end of the song that shows a somewhat different style. Suddenly bursting out of its dreamy pop landscape, there’s a distinctive Emo flavor to the song’s crescendo, which comes off as a bit forced. It’s an unfortunate development, as it turns an otherwise lovely song into something that sounds like it came from any one of the cookie-cutter Emo bands currently out there. Not a good thing. “Supposed To Be” is a more up-tempo track that’s enjoyable enough, although, once again, not especially interesting either.
Luckily, Brothers saves his best song for last, and finally reveals that he can project a sense of his uniqueness in his songs. “Honestly”, written for an ex-girlfriend whom he was struggling to get over, is a melancholic tune of the highest quality. “I wished your love away / Honestly, over you / One lie short of true / Honestly, over you,” Brothers sings while picking bittersweet chords on an acoustic guitar. It’s raw, painful and brilliant. And it doesn’t sound like anybody but himself.
Cary Brothers is a talented guy who needs a bit more time before we can ascertain just what type of artist he will become. All the raw materials are there, he just needs to trust his own muse and be willing to address the listener directly and in the most personal terms. “Honestly” is proof that when he does that, he is an engaging and emotionally rewarding songwriter.
