There is an art to finding that sweet spot between freshness and familiarity, that place from which to make music that both plays into comfort zones and offers something new. It is an art that Erik Rabasca is a master of, New Scrolls being all the proof needed.
Singer-songwriter is a broad term, one that can mean many different things to different people. But if Rabasca often leans into many of the older traditions, echoing icons such as John Prine, Townes Van Zandt and even his Bobness himself, it is the sound of not so much what was as what they might sound like if they were breaking through today. It is not so much a reminder of what was, more a torch being passed on and carried proudly into a new age.
From the groovey, country-fied, country-fried opener “Wise One,” a song that will invoke bop and boogie in even the staunchest of wallflowers, to the last-waltz of the evening gorgeousness of “Better Than What You Gave” and from the low-slung blues-rock of “Rituals, Lies & Sins” to the finessed folk-rock of “Love Resounds,” New Scrolls runs the roots-rock gamut. Brilliantly.
Made at a point where the singer-songwriter sound is embellished by just enough full band sonics, where the long traditions of the past tumble into a bright new future and where quality songwriting is front and center, this is an album, and indeed Erik Rabasca is an artist, that you need in your life.
