The Trades - Music Review: Alex Nackman, "Still Life Moves"

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ARTICLE

Music Review: Alex Nackman, "Still Life Moves"
by Rob Drysdale
Published: March 9, 2008

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Release Date: March 4, 2008
Label: Long Road Records
Related Sites:
· Official Site (US)
· Official Site (UK)
· MySpace Page

Grade: B+

My first impression of Alex Nackman’s Still Life Moves was revulsion. “Great, another pointless pop record,” was what I thought to myself after forcing myself to listen to the entire album. I tossed the CD into a pile of discs that I someday hope to forget.

Something at the back of my mind kept me from forgetting the disc. I kept looking at my junk pile and seeing Still Life Moves on top. Eventually I popped the disc back into the stereo and grabbed my trusty headphones. I realized right away what it was that made me originally reject Still Life Moves; it’s pop music, and I cannot deny that it’s good, very good.

Nackman piqued the interest of Mtv last year when 5 songs from his previous album, Sunrise Falls, were used in the Mtv shows The Hills and Road Rules: Denver. Still Life Moves shows Alex Nackman treading a path blazed by others like Coldplay, David Gray, John Mayer and even Don Henley. Undeniably ready for mass consumption, Nackman has crafted a set of laid-back songs about relationships and hazy memories.

The humble, sensitive, well-crafted adult pop songs won’t get your blood pumping but you may consider grabbing a cup of tea or talking a walk along a mist shrouded beach. Nackman’s talent for expressing a kind of completely non-threatening sensuality will have young women swooning. However, anyone with a soft side will find themselves enjoying the soaring melodies throughout Still Life Moves.

Alex Nackman focuses his efforts mainly on ballads, the best of which is "Thoughts of Paris." Here Nackman does an excellent job at evoking a sense of despair over a recently ended love affair with the day it rains is all too kind/the world will have the same state of mind/ and I won’t see a happier soul than mine. I think each of us has been in a similar frame of mind at some point in our lives.

"Banking On November" is another stand out ballad on the album. While it may not stray from the familiar ballad formula, "Banking On November" delivers a solid rhythm and an easily remembered chorus that will have audiences singing along. The song is a somber affair where Nackman draws parallels between the changes in the weather and his own life ending the song with got a call he had died, and a girl skipped on my show.

The opening tracks of Still Life Moves show that Nackman can still deliver some tight hooks. Both "Wait for Me" and "A Letter" show finesse for delivering a bit of a punch to the album. "Beyond the Blame" and album closer "Berlin" also helps to deliver some variety to the mostly muted tone of Still Life Moves.

I really can’t explain how Alex Nackman hasn’t crossed over into the mainstream. Still Life Moves does everything right, from pop hooks to heartfelt ballads. Radio stations may not have caught on yet, but Nackman has made an album that I’m sure will have a few songs popping up in mix tapes that guys will be giving to young women they just met.