Select Captain

The Fear And The Lights

Written by: PP on 14/01/2015 23:05:33

Select Captain is a singer-songwriter project by Kristian Gaarskjær from Copenhagen, who's also known from his role as the vocalist in Gonzo Morales and Capricorn. Especially the former is a way more blues rock / garage rock'n'roll oriented band, so you can say he's moving quite far outside of his comfort zone on debut album "The Fear And The Lights". Here, the basis is a folksy, indie flavored singer-songwriter expression, which utilizes a variety of instruments ranging from quiet piano and acoustic guitar to mandolin and banjo to spice up the expression. My fellow reviewer corpse have compared the man to everyone from Neil Young through George Ezra and Ryan Adams, and to an extent these references hold some truth to them based on the twelve tracks on offer here. Even Brian Fallon (The Gaslight Anthem) style Americana gets a nod on a few occasions, most notably on "Sailing".

It's a very quiet, relaxing sound, that attempts to use as much ambiance as is possible in a singer-songwriter environment. Some songs like "One Time Offering" are relatively catchy with silky piano melodies and quirky vocal melodies setting them slightly apart from the rest, but sadly, the majority of the disc is plagued by mediocre songs that sound more or less like every single other singer-songwriter you've heard in the past year or two. The soothing voice with a slightly dark, melancholic twist and the addition of folksy instruments? Not exactly something that sticks out in its own in this genre. And that's something that sticks out like a sore thumb throughout the record: the songs don't really give the listener a reason to come back. In other words, they are boring and nothingsaying, while not necessary being terrible and awful at the same time.

That's a classic sign of a dead-on average record that has trouble breaking away from the gray mass of like-sounding artists or groups. Throughout "The Fear And The Lights", Kristian Gaarskjær alias Select Captain doesn't do enough to convince the listener why they should care. The result is an album that, while containing a couple of decent tracks, overall is a rather boring listen.

Download: One Time Offering, All Too Hard
For the fans of: Neil Young, George Ezra, Ryan Adams,
Listen: Facebook

Release date 22.09.2014
Self-Released

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