Eddy Yang
American Glory
(Eddy Yang)

You have to give Eddy Yang his due. He managed all the writing, recording, production, mixing, mastering, and even produced the album artwork of his American Glory. The loosely strummed electric of “On Our Way (Into The Night)” opens us into Eddy’s singular vision of the “…2010s, when racial tensions, gun violence, and political uncertainty threatened to tear America apart,” as the press for this twelve-song album attests. “Chasing Something,” has a profound lyric, obviously mining some of this Asian American indie rock-and-roller’s truest feelings.

“Rock N Roll Legends,” moves along maybe better than the frst four that preceded it. It’s got a cool key backing, and there is a fine lead here; again, Eddy manages to give us a chorus that we can sing to. “Revolutionaries” then “Renegades” follows, the first sporting a tight, snappy drum machine beat, over-driven guitar, and a punk-like vocal (good guitar here too); the second mines the same heavy simple vibe, “Renegades” being, even more, Ramones-like, with a real biting lyric.

A low ‘bowed’ keyboard string sound and low single bass note floats under the vocal of “Into The Night Again.” I’m not so sure Eddy’s vocal is up to the task, and the song reallyoesn’t introduce much else except a few haunting single note synths at the end of it. The title track ends the dozen. It’s a mid-tempo plodder that has the potential of an anthem, and presents Eddy’s best vocal and his most layered production of all the tunes on American Glory.