My good friend Dennis Pilon at Poprock Record pointed me in the direction of Cannuck Stephen Schijns and there is an awful to like about his debut album. Although very much in Pop Rock Territory, there are many visits to different places in the area.
What Do I Know About Love is more than a little Nick Lowe and Round And Round We Go is pure Rock And Roll. What Why is great Power Pop whilst Hard Edged World is 70s Singer Songwriter stuff, almost a little Cowboy Country Rock.
Trans-Pacific Beach Burn is fine Surf Rock, yet Fooling Yourself sounds a little Dire Straits. I Know A Man is UK Beat, but I Met Her Yesterday is 60s West Coast Pop. The stand out song is probably Map which fairly rattles along and is aided by a killer chorus.
So you will have learned that there is a great deal of variety here, but that may present a problem for new listeners. Maybe Where Do We Go is trying to try to hard to show what Schijns can do. 18 songs is also a lot for a debut album. However, this is a really good listen and will appeal to many.
You can listen to and buy the album here.
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Well, I guess I can comment! Thanks for taking the time to review "Where Do We Go?" - it's always fun to hear what informed listeners think about the tunes, and what they think they are similar to. Admittedly, there is a lot of variety in the album, but I look at it as being like a '60s radio show, where you would have The Raiders beside Peter and Gordon, Connie Francis following The Ventures, and The Four Tops covering The Left Banke. Not a bad thing - except when it comes to categorizing the album; it's tough to answer the usual first question, "So, what kind of music do you play?" Besides, if this is the only album I ever get to do, I wanted to throw it all in there. And with digital playlists its easy to customize and re-sequence or edit the tracks. There is lots more info on my website, www.schijnsmusic.com Enjoy!
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