When critics proclaim an artist to be on par or better than artists like Elliott Smith, Bob Dylan and Radiohead, one begins to expect greatness.
In fact, achieving that level of skill would seem to be an unattainable feat. Some critics have nevertheless bestowed such honors upon
Keith Lynch’s Unknown Component and his new CD In Direct Communication.”The CD does deliver quality music at times, but a bit of repetitiveness
paired with Lynch’s sometimes forced vocals do detract from the album.
For starters, the first song “Into The Sun” does not produce the spark that makes you want to finish the album. The lyrics are clearly well thought
out and the music, though a little sing-songy, feels good. Still, Lynch seems to strain to reach notes at points which can really distract the
listener. In order to give the CD a fair chance, it may be better to select a different track to begin with.
“Retrospectively Speaking” is a much better song, possibly because of its
simplicity. It hearkens back to a mid-90s style of music, with a
tone that mimics that feeling in the singers inflection. After a second listen, I realized that parts of Lynch’s style remind me more of Marcy
Playground in the way that his voice follows the music. While the song is not in any way musically complex, it serves as a decent background for
better lyrics.
In the song “Somewhere a Light Has Gone Out”, you can find better evidence for the comparisons to Bob Dylan. However, these comparisons may be a little too generous. While Lynch’s voice does display some of the raspy quality of Dylan’s, the way the lyrics are emphasized takes away from the flow of the song. He strings the words along so that they fade in and out, with the peak emphasis lying on each beat. The result is distracting and feels like a string of disjointed words instead of a sentence. In addition, the volume of the looped piano serves to increase the feeling of repetitiveness.
Lynch does a good job of composing some simple and enjoyable songs on “In Direct Communication.” Unfortunately, Lynch occasionally struggles to reach
some notes, especially in “Identifying Interpretation.” Also, the delivery of the lyrics themselves, both in sound and style, can stifle their quality. Overall the CD is worth checking out, especially since it is available on Itunes and some full songs are available for preview on Myspace.com. Don’t give up too soon either, as the songs on the CD vary quite a bit in style and pace.