Logan Sutherland - Logan Sutherland

Logan Sutherland

Logan Sutherland
​self-released; 2017

3.9 out of 5

By Jamie Robash

The anatomy of influence is different for everyone. For some influence comes from impact, from things that directly affect a person in their life, things they hadn’t sought out necessarily such as family life or a certain economic caste into which they were born into. Still for others influence comes from the directions in which they set sail in their lives, and the adventures and encounters they have on their travels. It seems the latter force of influence is what drives Toronto by way of New Zealand singer/songwriter Logan Sutherland. 

Logan Sutherland composed his self-titled four-song EP Logan Sutherland on a few different continents as he traveled from his birth home of coastal New Zealand to his adopted home of Toronto which included stops in South America among others along the way.

The EP opens with the horn heavy pop rock tune “Please You” on which Logan Sutherland lays out how the album will progress. His vocals are of that deep blues-crooner style which has heartbreak literally built into the frame a la Chris Isaak. It deals in a pace of soft, loud, soft loud, with your typical breakdowns and upbeats. In other words it’s radio-friendly as hell. Next we get “Riding Lightning” which follows its predecessors pattern but its guitars and vocals are sharper and darker.

On “Flying High” Sutherland keeps the pop sensibilities in place but let’s go a little more, deepening his vocals and letting his guitar rage out in a fit of steely violence. Then not to seem too glum Sutherland closes out the EP with the upbeat and rather jaunty “Rush” which contains some of his most impressive guitar work and also features a farfisa organ which caught my attention as it is an instrument I am rather familiar with and fond of and was glad to hear it represented in the mix of Sutherland’s guitar and brass backing outfit. 

​Logan Sutherland’s debut is a solid EP full of well-crafted songs that get inside you and make you want to hear them over and over again. I look forward to seeing what a full -ength will bring along with it as Sutherland resumes his travels and starts to incorporate them into his new material.

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