Nick Dakota - Vision
Discovered by renowned producer Robyn
Robins, thirty year old Michigan native Nick Dakota’s debut album Vision
features a dozen songs with many written by top flight Nashville songwriting
talent and accompanied by some of the best live and session players that Music
City has at its disposal. The album is geared for commercial success, but it
reflects a lot of what compromises Dakota’s character as a man. The
commercially oriented fare never outright panders to country music fans but,
instead, presents musical and lyric elements sure to resonate with the widest
of possible country music audiences. The album is a little over-extended with a
dozen songs when, perhaps, only ten would do, but the added songs don’t weigh
the release down much. Instead, Vision is as solid as of a debut as you’re
likely to hear in any genre and, in modern country music, Nick Dakota stands
out as one of the most exceptional talents to come along in some time.
It gets off to a great start with the
jewel “We’ll Always Have Paris (Texas)”. This is a slightly elegiac track with
a relaxed pace and Dakota shows a great knack for embodying the emotions of the
lyric in his voice without ever being hamfisted about it. His turn on “How Cool
is That?” possibly makes the whole album. He does a superb job of making the
listener see the object of his affection depicted in the lyrics. The down to
earth details mix nicely with much bigger, more general emotions and Dakota
wraps his voice tightly around the instrumentation with great effect. He turns
away from modern textures to recall a much more traditional country sound on
the ballad “One Last Request”, but the steel guitar and patient unwinding of
the track are far from its only merits. The true highlight of the track is
Dakota’s profoundly moving, deeply emotive vocal and he elevates the fine
lyrics to another higher level by virtue of his performance. “The Deep End” has
a bluesy bite thanks to its insistent electric slide guitar licks and Dakota’s
rugged vocal matches up with it very well. The chorus is one of the album’s
best.
“Used” is a fantastic study in musical
contrasts that impressively come together. The verses have a light touch, the
instruments scattered and leaving a lot of space for the music to breathe,
before the energy level spikes for another great chorus. “Rain Down Sunshine”
has a a great rock vibe thanks to its combination of acoustic and electric
guitars plus authoritative drumming that never plays a note too many. There’s a
fabulous uplift in this track, as well, that will likely make it a live
favorite. The album’s last song “Sledge Hammer” has an unique sound, slightly
crazed bluegrass cut with a dash of rock music, and ends Vision with a colorful
exclamation point. Vision establishes Nick Dakota as one of the genre’s promising
young talents and songs like the finale pave the way for a wide future. Any
lulls in the album are due to there being a few too many songs, particularly
mid-tempo rock influenced country tracks, but those lulls don’t compromise the
album too much.
8 out of 10 stars
Joshua Stryde
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