Owen Sartori - Nobody Gives a Damn

Owen Sartori

Nobody Gives a Damn
self-released; 2016

3.6 out of 5

By Jamie Funk
​

Owen Sartori has thirty years experience as a musician. He has an impressive resume and has released a good amount of music but is also a teacher according to his website. He makes pop music for the most part but I’m not entirely sure I understand what he is going for on his release Nobody Gives a Damn. He paints different moods throughout this album in terms of style and theme. Take for instance ”Dublin Sky” which is a meditative, contemplative song about our place in the cosmos. You have that and then you have a song like “Cool” which is very tongue-in-cheek bathing in levity due in part to things like a kazoo part and him mentioning that it's not too bright to lose a sex tape.

Outside of the lyrics the songs have a pretty distinct feel and often feel like separate Islands. “Nobody Gives A Damn” is a hard-hitting rock in the spirit of Queens of The Stone Age or Foo Fighters. A song like “Make Me Your President” has a distinctly different feel. It’s very atmospheric and ethereal and goes into pretty epic territory. “Let it Go” is a rock song with forward moving momentum while “Come Back” is a classic love ballad.

Sartori is a hard one to place in a lot of ways. His music definitely does not feel destined for the underground yet I am not exactly sure if it melds with contemporary mainstream music either. That could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. I’d say the individual songs work better as singles than anything else.

There is no denying that the songs are well-crafted and Sartori has talent. That's not the question. The question I found myself asking is what is his signature sound. After listening to the album a couple of times I felt it was hard to find the cohesive aspects in all the songs that would help me recognize his style. “At Best, This Will End in Complete Disaster” is an instrumental ambient, atmospheric song that is in no way indicative of the very next song “Cool.”

With that in mind I could see people finding the songs they prefer rather than hitting play and letting the album ride. That's at least what I found myself wanting to do. As far as the production and delivery goes I thought it was top notch. Sartori has a versatile singing style but it is ultimately palatable on the ears. The guitar playing is great along with the other instrumentation. 

​If you don’t mind a scattered album that has a couple of gems than go for it. Different songs will appeal for different reasons and that's a fact. Recommended.

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