By Mark Lennon
Life after a successful indie rock band in an ever evolving music industry has been good to Brett Detar. Finding a unique county roots sound of his own with the release of 2010’s Bird In the Tangle, Detar continues his evolution with his latest release, Too Free to Live.
With singer-songwriter, film composer (The Devil Inside) and music producer to his credits, the former Juliana Theory lead singer and once guitarist/bassist for metal-core band Zao, delivers an album that plays like a movie, where images take flight, stories are told and sounds swell and peak. Too Free to Live is a Music Supervisors dream.
Kicking off the album with the soaring Americana rock anthem title track, Detar creates a sound that feels like a stampede of horses running through western plains on a static-filled TV from the 70s. This song like the others that follow, conjures up striking images and ignites the imagination. The first single off the album,“A Soldier’s Burden” sounds as if it came straight off of a Civil War battlefield, with marching snare drums, banjo breakdown and haunting traditional sounds. “Satan’s Foot On My Neck” stomps and kicks with the raw energy of Jack White, “Your Heart Grows More Heartless Each Day” is a throwback to Gram Parsons style county with lilting piano and fiddles while “Please Don’t Go Away Like That” has an infectious pop rock appeal and “Tried To Hate The Angels” emotes the wailing pain of Ryan Adams between pedal steel cries.
Too Free to Live is packaged beautifully on Vinyl, so pick up a copy now and be sure to catch Brett Detar on his US tour in October/November. www.brettdetar.com
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