Zach Bryan - Zach Bryan: Review
Zach Bryan
is an Oklahoma-based country singer who had somewhat of a breakthrough 2022. After building up momentum for years he released his first top 10 album American Heartbreak last year which also contained his first massive hit song Something In The Orange. Now just a year later, he's following that extremely long album up with a more scant collection of songs that see him leaning into his folk influence and raw stylings.
Review by Lav:
Ever falling short of being the definitive music influencer, I didn't really hear about Zach Bryan until everybody else did. Late last year I called his breakthrough mainstream hit Something In The Orange one of my favorite hit songs of the year and it also landed on my singles of the year list. I completely stand by both of those choices. While his album American Heartbreak was far too long and inconsistent for me, I was really excited to see what Zach had to offer with this shift to more conventional full-length, and he didn't disappoint.
This record gets off to a really strong start. It leads off with the compelling spoken word poetry of Fear And Friday's (Poem) and even though I'm not crazy about Overtime thematically the driving instrumentation is very exciting this early in the record. Summertime's Close is a real lyrical gem that sees Zach dialing it back instrumentally. It's an extremely down to earth song but with plenty of rich singer-songwritery metaphors and poetic songwriting. The combination is really wonderful. East Side Of Sorrow comes next and kicks off with this really earnest portrayal of Zach as an 18-year-old joining the military. The song follows him through a path of growth and the instrumental rises perfectly alongside with it for a HUGE highlight.
The highlights keep coming on the next track Hey Driver. The song is a collaboration with southern-flavored soul duo The War and Treaty which works incredibly well. On the soaring hook they all harmonize and it sounds heavenly. Many of the collaborations on this record are wonderful as Zach proves he can be a versatile collaborator. Holy Roller is another great team up that is ostensibly a love some but I wouldn't blame anyone who mistook it for something else with the somber details and gentle instrumental tricks it pulls.
The best collaboration on the album is I Remember Everything, even if I'm incapable of separating the title phrase from the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt. Zach Bryan comes together with Kacey Musgraves incredibly well serving up what is functionally a duet. Their distinct styles play perfectly into the two varying verses and even if it follows a very familiar formula for country ballads there's a reason that standard exists in the first place. These two kill it. Technically there's one more collaboration on the album. The Lumineers appear on the song Spotless, which sounds like a Lumineers song. That is not a compliment.
The album also concludes with a pair of great songs. Smaller Acts is the most sonically raw song on the record and I think it's a pretty great choice to heighten the drama of the song with crackling vocals and clipping guitar chords. Oklahoma Son is a stripped-down closer that feels fitting for the album's finale and grew on me every time. Elsewhere on the album there are some solid songs that may not stand out quite as much. Fear And Friday's does have some instrumentation that I think is kind of hokey but it makes up for it with a solid hook. Ticking and Tradesman have the opposite appeal making for instrumental highlights that are let down either by their storytelling or refrains.
One thing that pops up a few times on the album are production quirks. There are moments and bits of instrumentation that sound rough around the edges in the wrong way and don't really support the songs they're deployed on. The worst place it crops up is on El Dorado whose corny western guitar is perhaps the perfect accompaniment for the awkward-sounding extended syllables on the hook. When the record makes use of keys more production issues tend to emerge. Jake's Piano is the first instance with a spacious composition that helps heighten the song emotionally. There's things to like about it but the sounds don't work that well together. Finally, there's Tourniquet whose keys sound even worse in this mix, especially with the full body of instrumentation to go with it. Once again the extra instrumentation and vocal samples are cool but it never really comes together right.
Zach Bryan is the album I was hoping that Zach Bryan would deliver. While it does still have some fat that could be trimmed, it also made a massive improvement on its highest highs. The well of great songs on this album is versatile both sonically and thematically and the results are a very enjoyable album to listen to. Bryan seems like one of the definitive voices in country music to look forward to more music from going forward. 7.5/10
For more singer-songwriter music check out my review of Julie Byrne's The Greater Wings
