Nicholas Cangiano - Early Reflections

Nicholas Cangiano

Early Reflections
self-released; 2016

3.6 out of 5

By Andrew Westberry

At seventeen years old, Nicholas Cangiano is already beginning to make his name known in the music industry. A one-man-band who makes his music in a bedroom studio in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, Cangiano recently released his second full-length stereo LP entitled Early Reflections.

​The album begins with an ethereal, ambient synthesizer motif in the intro of “Moons,” a hauntingly beautiful piece that gently swells throughout the song’s progression, gradually adding in instruments, vocals and more complex rhythms until the very end. “Your Light” follows with a slightly harsher tone as pulsing bass, distorted guitars, steady drums and piano lay down the musical foundation for Cangiano’s mellow voice to join.

Exploring a more electronic-based rock style in “Spacious Offerings” Cangiano highlights his vocal agility as melodies and harmonies coalesce into a pure whole. In the next track “Count Your Days” the energy of the song ebbs and flows and travels across many separate, yet intertwined, genres and styles in a true tour de force of songwriting.

Cangiano continues to create and mix ambient and aggressive styles in “Dreams of Lavender”, with his smooth, relaxed voice providing the perfect bridge between the two. “An Encounter” arguably the catchiest song on the entire record features an ambient-tinged blues style with memorable repeated vocal and guitar riffs. “11” returns to Canciano’s characteristic style with reverb-laced piano, synthesizers, guitars and percussion that constitute a full soundscape.

The record comes to an end with “Transcendence” a highly rhythmic and melodic track, and “The New Age” a reflective piece that combines many of the elements of the previous eight tracks. It is clear by listening to Early Reflections that Nicholas Cangiano has already learned much in his musical career journey, one that has undoubtedly just begun.

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