The pop revival we’re seeing in the American indie scene right now is kind of hard to ignore if you keep up with the underground pulse, and in Rob Alexander, the movement finds the right kind of act to lead it into the next era quite prosperously. Rather than fashioning himself and his sound with the same aesthetical content his forerunners would have in the amazing new album Young Man’s Eyes, this artist is one that genuinely feels like a thoughtful musician who just happens to get edgy enough for critics like me to call him neo-pop. There’s certainly something unorthodox about his artistic setup, and that’s exactly why I think he’s scoring so many points with fans this summer.
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There are some easy-to-identify rock elements in “Freak Show” and “Merry Christmas in Heaven” laced into the compositional integrity of the music, though heartily buried beneath a plaintiveness in the players’ execution, and even a touch of blues componentry in “Your Shelter” and “The Soul or the Skin” that are difficult to miss no matter what volume you’re listening to this record at. None of the accents in this colorful collective persona feel nor sound like they’ve been thrown into the pot simply to appeal to hybrid fanatics, and compared to most of the alt-pop I review, that puts this artist in an elite class indeed.
I like the gritty feel to the title track, the balladic “Like an Angel,” “The Kids Don’t Play Anymore,” and “Pillars of Hercules (Davey, Nigel, & Dee)” as it puts a harsh tonal lens over the lyrics in each song, and I get the impression its role here was an entirely deliberate one created by Alexander. The overall production quality we discover in Young Man’s Eyes is anything but subpar; truth be told, it stands in such a stark contrast to the limiting, insular style of other indie rock LPs out right now that its DIY elements occasionally seem unintentionally overstated.
The lyrical wit runs fluidly in Young Man’s Eyes, with the aforementioned “Merry Christmas in Heaven,” heartfelt “Black Widow Rising,” and the Gigi Worth-featured “Get Over Yourself” standing out as some of my favorite verse-centric gems of the bunch. There’s nothing specifically singular to complain about in this tracklist, and consistency is never a problem in the material – which is somewhat remarkable given the versatility of the play. Alexander knows what he’s doing, and that’s obvious from the get-go in this album.
Young Man’s Eyes breaks off the most fun I’ve had as a critic in some time now, and while I think it’s going to appeal specifically to the pop crossover audience we see growing by the day in the American underground more than anyone else, its artistic credibility will be difficult for even the most discriminating of reviewers to deny. Rob Alexander is every bit the Floridian soft rock king the critics claim him to be, and if you weren’t in agreement on this ahead of Young Man’s Eyes, the LP’s dozen-and-one songs might change your mind.
Levi Colston