Barry J Walsh - The Sound (self-released)

It’s funny what you connect with first. Being that we are in the realm of the music review, you might think that would be a hook or lyric, a refrain, or a chorus. In the case of “The Sound,” the new single from Barry J Walsh, it was the cover. More specifically, it was the realization that I actually own nearly half of the books featured on it.

Once I get beyond that little bout of self-indulgence and bookish smugness, I’m faced with a cool slice of modish power-pop, the sort of thing that blends sixties sweetness with 80s paisley-pop revivalism and more modern takes on what is missing in the current music scene.

Because in this age of identikit pop music, dance routines, and guest rappers, much of what we find here is exactly what today’s songwriters and pop pickers should be taking notice of. It has an unmissable riff, celebratory and meaningful lyrics, great use of dynamic, an ace groove, and an infectious way of going about things—in short, all the things that seem to be lost in today’s chart realms and the wasteland of popular music.

If you hanker for a time when the words pop and rock were interchangeable, when the former could have sonic weight and the latter infectiousness. When songs seemed written with longevity rather than fad or fashion in mind. A time when it was just enough for a song to be good, cool, and contagious, then “The Sound” is going to be right up your sonic street.

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