I admit, perhaps a little bit shamefully, that I didn’t have the highest expectations going into this. Thankfully, I was extremely pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be… I don’t know, “lame” is definitely too harsh, but at the same time I kinda thought it would be lame. I have a model in my mind of what “singer-songwriter” sounds like, and there’s kind of only so much it can be. I know I like him in Vulfpeck, but it’s hard to tell when I like who in a band like that, or when I’ll like someone as a collaborator but not as a solo artist, or when I just like someone’s voice but not their songwriting, or whatever else. I tend to like singer-songwriter type people, but only so much. Meaning, high floor and low ceiling.
I still think that’s a pretty fair characterization of how I typically experience the singer-songwriter, almost acoustic feeling artists, but in this case I was wowwed pretty hard. Maybe there is a low ceiling, maybe that’s just in my head, I dunno—whatever the case, Katzman is my favorite of that type (because I do definitely think he fits in that singer-songwriter typing). He best exemplifies it, he does it the best, he sound that sound most goodest. Y’know?
In particular, I love his first album, Romance Without Finance. I had to listen to it another two times the day after I first listened to it, it slaps. It’s just, it’s super good, I liked it a ton right away and I kept liking it, kept listening to it. Kinda peak at what it does. The rest of the albums are still good, but I don’t love any as much. Heartbreak Hits feels more rockish and riffy in a way I didn’t love; Modern Johnny is chunky and fun and I don’t really have anything bad to say about it, but I still like Romance more; Be the Wheel is my least favorite, mellow in a way I don’t care for, but still pretty alright.
All around, pretty easy A. I enjoy it a lot. At this point, I feel like I like him a lot. I feel pretty confident that I’ll continue to like the music and the man more as I listen, there are already a handful of songs I suspect I’ll develop an emotional connection to and I’m looking forward to that. And yeah, it just sounds really good, I’m here for it.
Theo Katzman complete, now listening to: Adele
tunafruitsandwitch 