Cause a Rockslide: Reviews

If you are a member of the press and would like a free copy of any of my releases, please e-mail me at tim@causearockslidemusic.com

 

Granted I haven’t scoured the earth, but in my avid music fandom, I had yet to run across a singer-songwriter who could replicate the style of Elliott Smith, my personal favorite singer-songwriter. When I signed up to review this album, my natural draw was towards the band’s name, Cause a Rockslide, which I assumed was a nod to Badly Drawn Boy’s fantastic song of the same name. While it may very well be such a nod, the essence of Damon Gough is nonexistent. Instead, the ghost of Elliott Smith is evoked, which I had to welcome.

Tim Cheplick records everything heard on Chances. Opener “Accident” feels devoid of Smith, with uneven results. A pretty, self-assured opening acoustic riff, a dizzying flurry of electronics, and a hushed anthemic chorus make up an extremely satisfying half of the song. The verses, however, drop the riff and the electronics, and eschew the spindly melody for a tuneless section that builds unnecessary tension. Cheplick, though, does have one inherent Smith-ism: his voice with its eerily similar angelic tone, which he compounds by overdubbing like Smith did in order to get a fuller sound. After “Accident”, however, the Smith likeness comes out in full-force. The ballad, “Blue Skies and Blue Eyes”, features a patient acoustic strum and piano accents, as Cheplick nails a Smith-y melody. Smith had a style to his melodies that nobody else could do, warbled and fragile, sometimes ascending sharply until drifting into down notes. Cheplick gets it down mirror-imaged. It’s harder than hell; believe me, I’ve tried to make a couple and just ended up sounding like an over-sensitive pussy. “I Hated Last Night” is a reverb-laden one-minute jam that sounds like the antithesis of Smith, before “The Object of My Affection” resets Cheplick’s path.

If there’s one thing Cheplick adds to give his music some distinction is the use of electronics, and the booming outro of “In This Town”, which explodes into an almost danceable denouement. The core, the heart of Cause a Rockslide, no matter the flourish of a keyboard or a little outro, is the direct line to the late Smith. On one hand, this isn’t new territory that wasn’t already covered on XO or Either/Or. On the other, it’s nice to have somebody who can summon the memory of Smith, which is a style that seemed so singular. It seems a little strange to have to give a final ruling on what to rate this album. Some may find this to be an indefensible rip-off of Smith, especially “In This Town”. Some may find this to be a nice placeholder in their genre-appropriate collection, something to help carry on a lovely aesthetic. Some might actually feel Cheplick sounds close enough to Smith that he assumes the greatness Smith left vacant. For myself, I love “In This Town”, which ends with the mutated electronic version of something Smith definitely could have written in his day. Hell, even without the bass/kick drum swell at the end, I’d love the song, no matter how big of a rip-off it seems like. I can’t let Cheplick assume Smith’s greatness without more originality, but I just can’t slam him for tracing his influence’s trademarks, because it sounds too good. I’ll meet him somewhere in the middle and give him credit for making an EP full of pleasant memories and pleasant melodies.

72/100

'Blue Skies and Blue Eyes' fits great in the winter. It's dark, gentle, playful, yet cozy...'Blue Reprise is a short beautiful melancholy folk song. Spherically playful and takes the listener into a mysterious world of sound with a great text...'The Object of My Affection' was good for the verses are very beautiful...3/5 stars.

Cause a Rockslide is Tim Cheplick, who plays every instrument and records, mixes, and masters all of his own songs in his home studio. His second release is the 7-track EP "The Problem With the Question"


Well written songs, simply produced and played passionately will always be easy to listen to. The track 'The Problem With The Question' sounds almost like 'Blur' but American not English - a bit of a dumb thing to say but I'm having an off day, it must be this Arctic weather we have been enduring, affecting my ability to string sentences and words together.


The acoustic tracks are very successful with two guitars, one to the left and one to the right, incredibly straight forward production - why should it be any other way?

Tim plays live and not only plays his own compositions but includes tracks by The Beatles, Elliott Smith, Wilco, and Badly Drawn Boy - influences that are apparent in his own songs. These tracks were a pleasure to listen to - they made this cold room warm up a bit.