Dru Cutler - Hometown (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://www.drucutler.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/DruCutlerMusic/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/drucutler

Written by Michael Saulman, posted by blog admin

Though musician, singer, and songwriter Dru Cutler might have traded in the sunny climes of South Florida when he relocated to the comparatively dour urban sprawl of Brooklyn, there’s an effervescent creativity glowing in his music and voice brimming over with pure life. His most recent release, a duo of songs united under the title Hometown, finds Cutler balancing artistry and commercial appeal in a way unmatched by many of his contemporaries. It is no small feat how both songs demonstrate a facility for exploring compelling instrumental textures, memorable melodies, and intelligent lyrics with a high gloss sound that never betrays the material with cheap turns or outright pandering. Cutler benefits from production emphasizing the bottom end but showing a keen enough ear to lay upper register instruments over top with an even hand. This mix of strengths results in one of the year’s best releases of any length.

The first song, “Hometown”, sparkles thanks to a pleasing blend of acoustic guitar, piano, and authoritative drumming. Cutler’s voice emerges from within the mix just as strong and well balanced as his surrounding instrumental attack. There’s understated melodic excellence powering much of this performance and much of it comes on the backs of Cutler’s vocal and the piano playing; the chorus is impressive and there’s some harmony vocals scattered throughout making a positive impact on the track. The lyrical content, however, is arguably its marquee attraction. Cutler does a fantastic job of adopting just the right tone for his examination of youth and our impressions of it in retrospect. There’s obviously some unavoidable sentimentalizing that goes on, but Cutler takes on a remarkably rich adult point of view with this time-tested subject matter.

The second song on Hometown couldn’t be more different. “Infinite Moons” shares some similarities with the aforementioned track – the similarities are, largely, confined to production values, but much of the instrumental approach remains the same – there are no individual spotlight moments for players to step to the fore. His take on melody in a song like this is more diffuse than on the earlier and much more concretely arranged tune, but the rewards are the same; Cutler just takes a different route to get there. His lyrics for this song aren’t as evocative or detailed as we heard in the prior song, but they serve the song nonetheless with a tight focus and understanding of the arrangement’s needs. Dru Cutler’s latest release is a sturdy and remarkably complete reminder of why he is one of the foremost talents working on the indie scene today. “Hometown”, the track, has much more obvious commercial appeal than the second song, but both have a tremendous amount to offer listeners. This is one of the interesting “smaller” releases thus far in 2017.