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Recorded over the course of a year in his Texas studio, mostly by himself, Israel Nash’s Topaz runs the gamut from the personal to the political, the urgent to the dreamily laid back, the latter being the case with the opening soulful groove of  Dividing Lines, a fulsomely orchestrated song that pointedly but almost wearily reflects on his country’s divisions with the hint of Neil Young’s psychedelic cinematic canvas. Also featured on the preceding Topaz EP, the high sung Closer strikes a more personal note about missing his wife and home, pedal steel and harmonica compounding the feelings, while Down In The Country fuses blues, rock and a Southern country vibe with brass colours in a number fuelled by rural devastation and its economic impacts.

The laid back Southern Coasts has a lazing pulsing ambience, washing like waves before things get more soulful with added synths sheen for the mid-tempo vintage R&B shades of Stay, another number centred around wanting to be at home, sounding somewhere between Glen Campbell and Sam Cooke.
Another from the EP, Canyonheart again touches of the soft folk-soul of Neil Young, here with a steady drumbeat and harmonica on a slow march anthemic undercurrent, then it’s back to the brass for the sax-soaked Indiana with its steady rhythm and the vocals again rising into falsetto skies, electric guitar solo punctuating a  song about looking for a rhythm to your life.

The final stretch begins with the more pared-back Howling Wind, a number about the need for an anchor and dependability that has more than a touch of Lennon balladry about it, textured by backing vocals, chiming descending scales and keyboard wah-wah swirls.  Finally, then, comes, first,  the steel stroked, Youngian Sutherland Springs written about the worst mass shooting in the history of Texas, Nash being an advocate for gun reform (this isn’t the first time he’s written about such tragedies) and, finally, it ends with Pressure. Recorded alone in quarantine and underpinned by a soulful rippling hand percussion rhythm, sax and bluesy guitar underpinning a drawn from life lyric about those feeling,  ground down and screwed over by a faceless system, it’s not a stretch to liken it to Marvin Gaye’s potent social commentary classics. Informed by both a sense of space and a period of reflection, like the gemstone of the title it has a hardness, a myriad of different colours and a captivating allure and lustre.

Tracks:  
1. Dividing lines
2. Closer
3. Down in the country
4. Southern coasts
5. Stay
6. Canyonheart
7. Indiana
8. Howling wind
9. Sutherland springs
10. Pressure

Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtcqqOyafOI