Saint Paul - Buzzy Fly

​Saint Paul

Buzzy Fly
self-released; 2016

3.4 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Saint Paul is like many musicians who is just releasing a lot of music because he can. His release Buzzy Fly was written over a couple of months and contains thirteen songs. The songs don’t feel labored over. They feel more like a stream of conscious. The styles clash, aren’t cohesive some of the time but there is some charm in that. Some of his attempts fall flat and there are also some inspired moments. It’s a potluck of sounds that could probably be re-visited at some point by him. 

He opens with “Vix” which is more or less a blues jam. It’s light and atmospheric with clean guitar. The song is a guitar jam session and not particularly indicative of the other songs. Take for instance the second track “Jinx”  which feels electronic right off the bat. The guitars are gone and the beat is heavy. His singing is the most unique thing about the track. You really can’t make out a word he is saying. It lies underneath the music. The beat doesn’t change throughout the song. 

The unusual singing continues with “Dance” which almost sounds like it separates from the music. The juxtaposition was engaging. He finds a couple of catchy melodies on “Flakes” while “Hexagon” moves along slowly. “Rabbit” on the other hand moves fast and was almost too much to handle. Guitar solos with vocals and a beat that refuses to slow down. 

A style definitely starts to emerge the more you listen. The songs starts to bleed into each other. Saint Paul might be onto something here but I have some advice. I’d encourage him to maybe slow down on the output of songs and instead focus on the fleshing out of the individual songs a bit more. Once he introduces a beat he sticks with it and I thought a couple of those songs could use a change in the rhythm. 

​Saint Paul is an artist with potential. A case of wait and see.

soundcloud

Tweet