While Dallas-based singer-songwriter Ezra Vancil has explored several different styles of music over his time in the music industry, his album of You finds the singer-songwriter exploring the Folk music aspect of his personality as well as other styles to help bring the tracks on the new album to life. Recently, Vancil took a deeper look within his own life and started writing songs with a very personal connection. But instead of writing the collection of songs from a first-person perspective, the resulting tracks on the release deal with his relationship with his wife and other aspects of love as his various relationships have seen ups, downs, highs and lows. With the eleven tracks that make up the release, Vancil makes use of his personal influences such as Cat Stevens, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, even women such as Emmylou Harris and Joni Mitchell, as well as several other artists. Together, those artists helped to influence the music of Ezra Vancil that appears on his new release called You.
The album You from Ezra Vancil begins with the track “Galveston”. While the track deals with Vincil’s divorce from his first wife, the music and feel of the track brings to mind another artist: Although known for the track “Convoy,” the songwriter C.W. McCall created tracks with this feel with the help of producer and owner of the record label American Gramophone, Chip Davis. Together, the duo of Davis and McCall would have created a track with this very feel, including the story-like approach to the lyrics of the song. That feeling of familiarity makes Vancil’s “Galveston” feel both fresh and retro at the same time and that gives the listener a good reason to continue on the musical journey set forth by Vancil.
Ezra Vancil’s new release continues with the track “Complicated Man”. The track starts off with a rather strong acoustic guitar approach that helps create a sound that will remind listeners of early recordings of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle, especially those days when the duo went by the moniker of Tom and Jerry. The easy pace of the solo acoustic guitar at the beginning of the track starts the song off with a simple sound. Soon, more guitars and some percussion are added to the track to add a lot of texture to the music. Although texture is added to the track, Vancil keeps the song low-key rather than building up the energy level. The low-key approach of the song allows the songwriting of Vancil to come through without being buried with a ton of other musical elements.
You from Ezra Vancil continues with the album’s title track “Wild Girl”. While the previous tracks feature a slightly light feel to the music, the title track finds Vancil adds a lot of energy to the album while still keeping a light approach. The Folk-Rock track of “Wild Girl” features an acoustic guitar as the focal point of the music and other instrumentation to create an “unplugged” feeling to the song. The song even features strings in the background to add an orchestrated feel to the music. Even though it’s a little late, “Wild Girl” is the type of song that would have fit in with all of the electric-made-acoustic songs in the nineties that made up the “Unplugged” fad back then.
With the next track, Ezra Vancil takes the music of his release to the next level. While the track “Broken King” still contains a definite acoustic approach, the track contains a complete listing of instruments. Gone is the lone guitar as “Broken King” contains a complete band playing behind Vancil. The track’s instrumentation creates a Folk-Rock sound that is heavy on the Folk influence but still heavier on the Rock influence than the previous tracks on the release. And with the addition of female vocals, the track becomes a duet of sorts. Even though the song “Wild Girl” is easily the focal point of the release, “Broken King” is yet another track on the album that could (and should) receive a lot of airplay.
One of the most emotional tracks on the You release is the song “Don’t Push Me Away”. With the overarching theme of relationships running through the album, this track’s connection to that theme is more apparent than most of the other songs. The Lite Rock feel of the song and the use of the theme in the lyrics makes “Don’t Push Me Away” one of the most emotional songs on the You release.
Throughout the various tracks on the You album, Ezra Vancil explores many different styles of music. With the track “Polka Girl From Tennessee,” Vancil brings a little more Folk influence into his music. In fact, with the inclusion of the fiddle on the track, you can even say he added a little Country flavor to the release. The resulting track gives the listener a song that feels a lot more like Country music and nothing like Polka music as you might expect with the track’s title.
Speaking of Country music, with the track of “Settle Down Good,” Ezra Vancil and the rest of the musicians on the release create a track that contains a strong Country influence, creating a track that would easily be categorized as Alt-Country. With the musical mix on this track, Vancil and the band bring to mind the music of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, with more of as modern spin on the music.
The album You from Ezra Vancil finds the singer-songwriter creating the prefect singer-songwriter release as each track feels different from the others. And with each track, Vancil and band show off their versatility because of that variety in the tracks. Having come from a much different musical background than what is contained within the release, You from Ezra Vancil truly shows off his songwriting ability. And the emotional feeling that is contained within the tracks that make up the release add to that singer-songwriter feeling of the album.
The You release from Ezra Vancil has yet to be released. However, the album is currently up for pre-order on Vancil’s website. Click on the link for more information.
While the You release is still not available, check out an earlier version of the track “Galveston” which will be on the album when it comes out.
For more information, check out Ezra Vancil’s PR Firm, Whiplash PR.
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