Oh how I love Joost Zweegers and although Novastar is essentially a solo project now, it has lost none of its charm and inventiveness in the hands of the main man. Dutch born, initially a Belgian band, but songs that sound so English.
I'm constantly drawn to the Netherlands. There is such a quality crop of singer songwriters with the likes of Anne Soldaat and Yorick Van Norden. Holler And Shout is no big diversion for Zweegers, why should it be? He masters what he does and continues to excel at it.
This is an album of wonderful melodic songwriting. There are no crashing guitars, everything is at a sedate melodic pace, splendidly sung and beautifully arranged. I like to think of it as an armchair album. You should sit back and listen and marvel.
Then there is THAT voice, there are a few around that make this sort of album and offer up ten morose miserable mediocre songs. But Zweeger's voice lends itself to the chipper, then again he could sing the phone book and still make it sound wonderful.
I defy anyone to write a song as magnificent Deep As The Eyes, it is just heaven. Everything else is wonderful, but this dominates the album. The title track is a haunting Piano ballad, whilst Wild Years is reminiscent of the likes of James Walsh.
Holler And Shout is a beautifully arranged with wafts of steel guitar accompanying Piano Pop of the highest order. The man not only writes amazing songs, but his voice just makes them better. This is a wonderful 36 minute listen. I never doubted it would be.
You can buy the album here.
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