Jonathan Calhoun’s Over the Street Lights to the Stars feels like a calculated dive into genre fusion, pulling influences from rock, Middle Eastern scales, and more. Hailing from Charleston, West Virginia, Calhoun's been writing and playing guitar for decades, but this latest effort is a more eclectic experiment than a singular statement. It’s a familiar concept—we’ve seen Eastern music influences seep into Western rock as early as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band—but Calhoun refreshes this approach with a distinctive voice.
The opener, "Exile," is where the East-meets-West tension is most palpable. With tabla-like percussion and distorted guitar, the track invokes both ancient traditions and modern noise. Calhoun’s vocals, at times operatic and occasionally channeling Scott Walker, oscillate between haunting and dissonant. Yet, just when the album threatens to pigeonhole itself, "Friday Night and Forever" takes a hard left, grounding itself in classic Americana-tinged rock with a drum kit leading the charge.
Tracks like "Forget About the End of the World" bring in unexpected techno or industrial beats, while "Paint on The Walls" scales back, offering a more intimate, introspective tone. Calhoun doesn’t seem interested in making each song sound like it belongs on the same record, but that works to the album's advantage.
"Dancing On Our Graves" leans into a danceable rhythm, while "The End and the After" slows down, drawing comparisons to Bob Dylan's more contemplative moments. The closer, “Ride On,” stands as one of the album's highlights—a fitting end to an ambitious yet uneven ride.
While Over the Street Lights to the Stars may not achieve complete cohesion, it succeeds in its bold ambition. It’s an album that rewards listeners willing to embrace its genre-hopping nature. Some tracks will undoubtedly land harder depending on your musical inclinations, but it’s an intriguing listen worth exploring.
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