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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Immerse yourself in Sean Rowe's magical world and you'll find it a dark forest with beams of light shining through a complex canopy. This terrific 'debut' album (apparently, he's dabbled before and most of these songs were written in 2008 or earlier)is full of light and darkness; optimism dashed with a dystopian worldview; this guy's obviously seen and experienced light highs and very dark lows. His deep, dark, rich voice (he's variously compared with Al Green, Gil Scott-Heron, Tom Waites...) is a perfect complement to the mostly deep and dark themes. His songwriting is, according to various commentators, somewhere between Van Morrison's best on Astral Weeks with a large dash of Leonard Cohen; phew, impressive comparisons but not overstated. His love and concern of nature and the environment is present in many of the tracks and he can even rock with the best; Jonathan (track 4) brings to mind a kind or Dire Straits/Bruce Springsteen fusion which I long to see performed live in an upcoming gig at the Purcell Rooms, London. With so many comparisons with great artists it's hard to pigeon-hole Rowe which is a good thing; personally, I think he's an original and this is a cracking album which I can recommend to all really good music lovers.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
As debuts go Sean Rowe's 'Magic' came as a bit of a surprise. The album
has a maturity and musical solidity which suggests a writer/performer who
has been honing his craft over the passing of a thousand full moons and more.
These ten marvellous songs seem both as old as the hills and as fresh as a
daisy in equal measure. This has much to do with Mr Rowe's distinctive
dark brown voice; the voice of a favourite uncle playing on the porch at
twilight while the green willow branches sway gently in time to his guitar.
Although born and raised in Troy, New York, the music outstrips much of
the recent outpouring of chintzy Americana blandly creeping across the
ocean at the behest of our Transatlantic cousins. It isn't cute; it isn't
stained with sepia or shot through with ersatz-Appalachian harmonies; it
stands up proud and alone with its face staring staunchly into the wind.
This is music which embraces but transcends tradition. It is wonderful.
In these stripped down arrangements, often employing little more than vocals
and simple guitar accompaniment, Mr Rowe generates a whisper and a tempest
of raw emotion, grounded in some of the most evocative melodies imaginable.
When supplementary instrumentation and voices are enlisted they never,
for a moment, clutter or obscure the organic development of the whole.
A song like opening track 'Surprise' seems carved out of stone. It won't
be hurried; it takes its own sweet time to work its way under our skin and
before we know it we have fallen hook, line and sinker in love with its charms.
Mr Rowe sings it from the heart with his sweet and sour gravely tones.
'Time To Think' takes an almost nursery rhyme verse-form and transforms it
into a very grown up story indeed. A lone cello bleeds as the clock tic-tocs
the seconds away into baleful oblivion. Waiting for the devil in the dark.
'Night', on the other hand, has a glorious light burning inside it which
refuses to be dimmed by the ambiguous and somewhat sinister narrative.
'Old Black Dodge' digs into a laid-back swampy rhythm every bit as gritty
as anything which might have sprung from the great Tom Waits imagination
and 'Wrong Side Of The Bed' rattles and rolls along like a rickety boxcar.
Final track 'The Long Haul' is an incredibly moving coup de grace and when
Mr Rowe sings that he "know(s) what it means to be alive" we wholly believe him.
'Magic' is, indeed, a truly magical experience. Beg, borrow or steal to own it!
Essential.
has a maturity and musical solidity which suggests a writer/performer who
has been honing his craft over the passing of a thousand full moons and more.
These ten marvellous songs seem both as old as the hills and as fresh as a
daisy in equal measure. This has much to do with Mr Rowe's distinctive
dark brown voice; the voice of a favourite uncle playing on the porch at
twilight while the green willow branches sway gently in time to his guitar.
Although born and raised in Troy, New York, the music outstrips much of
the recent outpouring of chintzy Americana blandly creeping across the
ocean at the behest of our Transatlantic cousins. It isn't cute; it isn't
stained with sepia or shot through with ersatz-Appalachian harmonies; it
stands up proud and alone with its face staring staunchly into the wind.
This is music which embraces but transcends tradition. It is wonderful.
In these stripped down arrangements, often employing little more than vocals
and simple guitar accompaniment, Mr Rowe generates a whisper and a tempest
of raw emotion, grounded in some of the most evocative melodies imaginable.
When supplementary instrumentation and voices are enlisted they never,
for a moment, clutter or obscure the organic development of the whole.
A song like opening track 'Surprise' seems carved out of stone. It won't
be hurried; it takes its own sweet time to work its way under our skin and
before we know it we have fallen hook, line and sinker in love with its charms.
Mr Rowe sings it from the heart with his sweet and sour gravely tones.
'Time To Think' takes an almost nursery rhyme verse-form and transforms it
into a very grown up story indeed. A lone cello bleeds as the clock tic-tocs
the seconds away into baleful oblivion. Waiting for the devil in the dark.
'Night', on the other hand, has a glorious light burning inside it which
refuses to be dimmed by the ambiguous and somewhat sinister narrative.
'Old Black Dodge' digs into a laid-back swampy rhythm every bit as gritty
as anything which might have sprung from the great Tom Waits imagination
and 'Wrong Side Of The Bed' rattles and rolls along like a rickety boxcar.
Final track 'The Long Haul' is an incredibly moving coup de grace and when
Mr Rowe sings that he "know(s) what it means to be alive" we wholly believe him.
'Magic' is, indeed, a truly magical experience. Beg, borrow or steal to own it!
Essential.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Pleasant on the ears
15 May 2011
Format:Audio CD
I heard Sean Rowe on NPR Mountian Stage while driving and paused to find out the Artist. Actually reminds me somewhat of Greg Brown. My Husband (now Deceased) was the DJ for the household for over 30 years and he would have loved Sean Rowe. I am just now feeling out my own vibes. ROCK ON!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Magic
5 May 2011
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Because of the nature of his burred baritone -- and these profound and emotionally deep songs -- it would be wrong to say this debut by New York singer-songwriter Rowe is "exciting". That might give the impression of pulse-racing music . . . and this isn't like that at all.
Quite the opposite, it can be heart-stopping.
But it is genuinely exciting to hear such a mature, provocative and flexible voice -- from almost gospel-blues to alt.folk and bedroom ballader -- married to lyrics which can have that slightly disconcerting quality of Tom Waits ("I was digging for gold in the rubble of a Catholic church, I found a wine bottle and a cardboard box that I had to search"), or the emotional and spiritual spirit of Jeff Buckley ("She changes her skin, he falls out of religion and washes his sins . . .").
There is also an up-close and intimate nature to this album which was recorded in Troy, upstate New York, and the lean arrangements keep the lyrics and delivery immediate.
In some reviews Rowe has invited comparisons with Leonard Cohen, but that draws a long bow. Mostly what you hear is the rather a more sober and the street-poetics sound of early Waits where the world is full of rust and stale wine, the moon rains down like broken glass and "I thought love is just a strip mall, baby you were a surprise".
There is death here too (Jonathan, which could be Bill Withers or Gil Scott-Heron on a bad trip where the car crashes in a world of reality and remembering) as well as a kid shifted from one trailer park to another town and saying to his mother, "If he hits you again, I will be your man and I will pull him out, you don't need to cut your life on these razor blades or these kitchen knives".
That isn't a Cohen, or even a Waits but maybe something Kurt Cobain or Eminem might have addressed -- and here Rowe puts this bleak reality into songs which ache with the base reality but float towards a fantasy where all will be forgiven. Or not.
There is blues here (Old Black Dodge which might have drifted out of Louisiana in the Fifties) and also gentle folk (The Walker, an account and monologue from a drifter).
Religion and its codes -- corrupted or redemptive -- soak these songs (""There's a coat for St Peter, it was made in Korea today"), but so do harsh observational images: "Boarded up windows in my neighbourhood, all this particle board, it don't look so good".
Sean Rowe addresses his contemporary America -- flawed, running on corrupted faith and shattered by statistics which don't speak well of th e great republic -- in a voice imbued with sadness, and with his eyes wide open.
Extraordinary. Quite extraordinary.
Quite the opposite, it can be heart-stopping.
But it is genuinely exciting to hear such a mature, provocative and flexible voice -- from almost gospel-blues to alt.folk and bedroom ballader -- married to lyrics which can have that slightly disconcerting quality of Tom Waits ("I was digging for gold in the rubble of a Catholic church, I found a wine bottle and a cardboard box that I had to search"), or the emotional and spiritual spirit of Jeff Buckley ("She changes her skin, he falls out of religion and washes his sins . . .").
There is also an up-close and intimate nature to this album which was recorded in Troy, upstate New York, and the lean arrangements keep the lyrics and delivery immediate.
In some reviews Rowe has invited comparisons with Leonard Cohen, but that draws a long bow. Mostly what you hear is the rather a more sober and the street-poetics sound of early Waits where the world is full of rust and stale wine, the moon rains down like broken glass and "I thought love is just a strip mall, baby you were a surprise".
There is death here too (Jonathan, which could be Bill Withers or Gil Scott-Heron on a bad trip where the car crashes in a world of reality and remembering) as well as a kid shifted from one trailer park to another town and saying to his mother, "If he hits you again, I will be your man and I will pull him out, you don't need to cut your life on these razor blades or these kitchen knives".
That isn't a Cohen, or even a Waits but maybe something Kurt Cobain or Eminem might have addressed -- and here Rowe puts this bleak reality into songs which ache with the base reality but float towards a fantasy where all will be forgiven. Or not.
There is blues here (Old Black Dodge which might have drifted out of Louisiana in the Fifties) and also gentle folk (The Walker, an account and monologue from a drifter).
Religion and its codes -- corrupted or redemptive -- soak these songs (""There's a coat for St Peter, it was made in Korea today"), but so do harsh observational images: "Boarded up windows in my neighbourhood, all this particle board, it don't look so good".
Sean Rowe addresses his contemporary America -- flawed, running on corrupted faith and shattered by statistics which don't speak well of th e great republic -- in a voice imbued with sadness, and with his eyes wide open.
Extraordinary. Quite extraordinary.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Amazing sophmore follow up delivers on the promise of the first
16 Nov 2009
Download the first song, if you like it you'll like the rest, and you probably will like it! Sean stands up with some of the best American songwriters and keeps getting better!
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