Album Review: Porcelain

Porcelain – might be fragile, but it’s undeniably beautiful.

It’s also got a lot of class, for being old school. (It originated in China some three thousand years ago. And had its hey-dey in the 16th century, though it’s certainly still popular in the 21st.)

In a similar vein, the music of Edward Rogers touches on something long-gone and yet there it is – as solid as a porcelain plate – and just as beautiful.

Rogers’ got a hell of a style: 60s / 70s Brit Rock filtered through a lifetime spent on the NYC scene. And though you might like his sound because it’s so familiar, it’s also quite diverse.

Songs like “Nothing Too Clever” and “Tears Left in the Battle” soothe the soul with piano, flute, delicately-plucked guitar, and warming voice.
Others, like “Love With The World,” stir your soul to action. (“We say we’re in love with the world / But yet look what we did to you / Took down your trees / And made concrete kingdoms / Yeah, that’s respect for you. // Let’s make a change / Let’s make a change today.“)

The album’s got an air of nostalgia to it – Rogers wrote the album while reminiscing about his experience of rock music in the late 60s / early 70s. And the opening number, “Biba Crowd“ evokes a mood of remembering:

“Where did all the Velvet go? / Matching satin / O, the silver dreams, you know / Thought I’d live it one more time then leave / the legacy behind // Golden days of our youth / We live for an evening to tell a few tales / Catch up on rumors / Tell a few jokes / See the old faces / And nod to those who pass us by.”

But there’s a newness to the album too – he’s addressing contemporary issues: 9/11, global warming, oil spills, abandoned children, recessions. But he cloaks it in a sound we think we know.

So as I said, it’s easy to like his music – it echoes so many greats: His voice sounding like a mix between Lou Reed and Bob Dylan. The guitars sometimes sounding like Jimi Hendrix, sometimes like The Kinks or The Beatles.

And his sound – so familiar, yet so new – might be just what we need in hard times like these: a post-9/11 world, with Wall Street “occupied” and Washington nearly bankrupt, Steve Jobs, Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson all dead.

Here’s music you can tuck yourself inside, without denying how fragile is our container – how quickly we can come undone.

Edward Rogers’ fourth solo album Porcelain (2011) debuts November 8th.