Hearing Rob Alexander for the first time restores some of my wavering faith in substantive pop music. The thirteen songs on his new album Young Man’s Eyes cover a gamut of genres while sharing the common characteristics of strong refrains, relatable subject matter, and often memorable melodic foundations. His influences are obvious to anyone well-versed in pop music history, but he’s not engaging in artful pastiche. Instead, Alexander has taken the work of his predecessors, too numerous to mention, and used them as a springboard for creating his own legacy. It isn’t too strong of a word. His legacy is a work in progress, without a doubt, but it’s as real as it gets.
“The Soul or the Skin” swept me away. It’s a vigorous pop song with rock posturing present throughout and keyed by an enthusiastic vocal. Despite its pop music pedigree, there’s nothing paint by numbers about its construction; Alexander revels in surprising listeners with unexpected detours, never gratuitous, and there are a handful of such moments during this track. He writes with great intelligence about the ongoing war between the spirit and the flesh that each of us face.
He takes a different tack with “Freakshow”. This song embraces a much more rough and ready musical identity with riffing guitar work that steamrolled me without ever losing its musicality. It impresses me, as well, how he takes on such a different subject matter compared to the song’s predecessor while retaining his identity. It never sounds like something outside his wheelhouse. The album’s first ballad “Sometimes We All Fall Apart” moves the album into familiar territory for Alexander. His skill in dispatching these sorts of sensitive examinations of human frailty further separates him from many peers because it never hits in a maudlin manner. The piano playing throughout the cut smartly links up with his voice.
“Pillars of Hercules (Davey, Nigel, & Dee)” is an unusual song insofar as it pays tribute to the unsung. In this case, it’s the talented band members who supported Elton John for many years, guitarist Davey Johnstone, bassist Dee Murray, and drummer Nigel Olsson. The brisk pace set by the song grabbed my attention straight away with his assertive and rock-solid timing. Peppering the track with guitar rather than adding wall-to-wall six-string playing is a shrewd move, but I wish it had a stronger tone. It’s a slight blemish on an otherwise five-star performance.
His duet with Gigi Worth on “Get Over Yourself” is the album’s latest single and a pulsing dance number. It has an important lyrical message, as well, that both Alexander and Worth convey with tremendous urgency. The introspective title number is another ballad, but it plumbs far deeper into the personal than other examples of the style on the album. Positioning it midway through the release points to how Alexander likely considers it the touchstone track of the collection. It lives up to such billing.
“We Can Be Winners” throws listeners a stylistic curveball. I enjoy how different this track is from the album’s surrounding songs. Alexander inhabits every syllable of the lyrics with appealing brio. The hard-hitting finale “Black Widow Rising” closes Young Man’s Eyes on a forceful note that may surprise others as it did me. I expected a much more thoughtful ending and I’m happy to be wrong. Rob Alexander’s Young Man’s Eyes pops with several unexpected moments and deserve consideration as one of the year’s finest releases.
Heather Savage
