Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Rekus, Greg
Label: Self-released
Release: 2011
Length: 29:09
Rating: 3.5/5
Greg Rekus is a singer-songwriter freelancer from Winnipeg, Canada, who needs nothing but a voice and an acoustic guitar to make his artistic statement. The young guy is aiming exactly where current trends aim: a fusion of alternative genres, stuffed with plenty of melody, traditional melos and folk rhythms. While Mumford And Sons in the UK and The Lumineers in the US pull off this kind of idiom far more pompously, Greg Rekus, unlike both, is »still waters«, not at all bothered about how many copies his debut »The Dude Abides« sells.
The man is lucky enough to have a distinctive raspy voice that sounds recognizable across the slim half hour his debut runs. The vocal approach is one-dimensional. That means Greg doesn’t need any special flexibility when it comes to coloring the feelings in his verses (the message). But that’s not a rule. On Friends Of Mine he ditches the throaty delivery, because the nature of the song, a more intimate, personal confession, demands it. Still, the scales tip in favor of punk, so we can conclude that »The Dude Abides« is more or less an acoustic punk album. But like I said. Thanks to the abundance of melody and the specifics of his voice and vocal interpretation (e.g. Dancing Around), Greg Rekus could very successfully work as a frontman in more modern bands of the pop punk/melodic punk, skate punk type,…
The guy sounds passionate enough in his vocal delivery to win you over. His guitar playing is just the same, loaded with coherent, fierce chord work. To the guitar rhythm he adds foot stomps throughout, sensibly accenting the rhythm of the songs. No embellishments like harmonica and other »tricks« that love to creep into this kind of musical »hangout« made across the pond. I’m lying. The sped-up No Work Today has a strong blues note, and Greg throws a kazoo »add-on« into it as a motif. You won’t find any other »embellishments« on the album.
In a very simple way, the guy effectively colors a lot of different moods. He’s managed to squeeze plenty of variety out of the lead motifs he picked. One Last Word works especially well. Very mature songwriting arrangement. The pain across the album is weighed down by a cheeky turn of events (e.g. I Guess That’s My Excuse). In his poetry Greg occasionally comes off a bit banal, but that keeps all its artistic sense when we’re talking about punk music.
We definitely can’t talk about clichés, even though Rekus isn’t inventing a musical revolution, but in half an hour of playing he manages to distill a real songwriting distinctiveness, which is also his basic motto, the thing he wants to keep the listener busy with. The album is definitely worth your attention!
Lineup
Greg Rekus – vocals, acoustic guitar, rhythm, “kazoo” on track no. 7
Production
John – Paul Peters & Greg Rekus
Tracklist
1. Signature of the Poor
2. Albert Song
3. The High Cost of Low Prices
4. The Mirror In My Favorite Bar
5. Friends of Mine
6. Dancing Around
7. No Work Today
8. Consequence
9. One Last Word
10. I Guess That’s My Excuse
