Bryan Deister
Spines of the Heart
(self-released)

Bryan Deister writes, sings, composes, plays and produces a full mélange on his new album, Spines of the Heart. After a distorted guitar beginning, we get plooky, arpeggiated keys and a shunky drum beat under a lilting lead vocal with bleeding, over-driven keys on the opener, “All That I Have.” “In Her Eyes” relies on that same sounding drum machine beat and keys still a little too present in the mix, but Deister’s John Lennon-like vocals over top makes this one truly feel heartfelt. “Into the Sky” sees some wonderfully layered harmony vocals. It’s one of the better tunes here for me, though it does build from just a simple (yet effective) piano. I’m not so sure the moaning, Thom Yorke-homage works so well on “Today.” “The Bread” relies on a heavy percussion and metallic drama for its effectiveness. Ah yes, piano again (but still too much Yorke moaning) on the very sad “Always Further.” “Seven Eight” is a great, nearly punk rock mover (with funky key bleats) and Desiter vocally in a way he has yet to do here. “Apart of Me” is a nice ending surprise, starting as it does with vocals and keys very much like lots of what’s come before, but then things drop out for a second section of full key orchestration into full prog rock territory, then we get a third movement of heavy, space-like, flight drama (wailing keys and vocals) then even a different section after with a real snapping beat and more organ wailing and big drama build at the end. At thirteen-minutes-plus, Spines of the Heart ends on a high note indeed!

You can listen to the album here.