Tim Cawley’s project The Flashpot
Moments is one of the most impressive melodic hard rock albums you’ll hear in
the last decade. His singing and songwriting dominates the entire album and
it’s clear from the beginning that he’s a confident all-around performer who
had a focused vision for what this album needed to do. The eleven songs on The
Flashpot Moments never shoot over the listener’s head and, instead, connect
with the audience on their level through a mixture of the personal, familiar,
and anthemic. His talent for writing memorable hooks and choruses sets this
apart. On the surface, such skills might seem rather easy to have, but it’s no
small feat to write songs, time in and out, that stick in a listener’s memory
and compel their bodies to move. Cawley, however, shows a seemingly effortless
ability for this and his vocals are full of charisma. He gets these songs over
and the melodies are his best vehicle for doing so, but he shows surprising
range as a lyricist in this genre as well.
“Strangers Dance” is the first song
that really shows that talent for songwriting. Cawley’s songs attempt to tap
into a common thread of experience we all share and this track does a better
job than most of pulling that off. It gains added impact thanks to its
straight-ahead, catchy melody and the way keyboards and guitar alike double
down on that central hook. The chorus, as well, is one of the album’s strongest
moments. The two track “’Splode (The Party Prelude)” and “Abigail,
Mispronounced (The Party Aftermath)” might be a little too thought out in their
titles, but they are musically entertaining together and apart. The songwriting
is full of some understated, knowing humor and outright laugh while the vocals
show a lot of variety to bring out the storytelling elements in each. “The
Learning Curve” is a wise, hard rocking track that comes at listeners from the
beginning and never relents. He keeps things well focused here while the
following song “Hands Up!” toughens the six string approach while give the
musical arrangement many more changes in direction than we hear on “The
Learning Curve”. There’s less melody on these songs than we hear elsewhere on
The Flashpot Moments, but the riffs still have enough melody to further engage
listeners.
“Can’t Wait to Find Out” is the last
outright rock song on the album and, arguably, it’s most complete effort in
that area. The riffing is much more tempered here than on “Hands Up!” and
there’s an increased emphasis on the lyrics, but the ultimate emotional impact
of his songwriting here cuts much deeper. The Flashpot Moments ends with the
lengthy “The Last Stand” and there’s an abundance of vivid musical moments in
this song living up to Cawley’s ambition for the album. This is as memorable of
a rock album as you’ll hear in 2017 and it powers along with equal parts imagination
and raw strength. Tim Cawley will have to go a long way to improve on this, but
it’s so good that it isn’t difficult to imagine.
9 out of 10 stars
I-TUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-flashpot-moments/id1194082027?app=music&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Montey Zike
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