A sensitive ear will classify Joel Smith to a group of musicians who are true musicians right after the first listening. He was born with music and he carries music within himself. He knows how to create interesting arrangements, how to efficiently manipulate the sounds between the silence to obtain specified effects and build an atmosphere around his music thanks to these skills. Joel also knows how to use inspirations (mentioning Metallica, Soundgarden, Incubus and Rage Against the Machine amongst all) to avoid copying.
“Temporary" is a solid rock masterpiece released on the Adam's Awakening album in 2011. Guitars, drums and bass collaborate together to intentionally make a quite dirty garage sound that is present in refrains. It's possible to ‘see' through the song and its structures, however there's always something unexpected that comes up to positively surprise the listener.
Many guitarists show off with their solo playing which makes their songs sound more like “how-to" workshops rather than music to enjoy. Joel's solos are short and harmonized with a path drawn by the rhythmic section.
When it comes to the vocals, everything is sung within scale as far as you can tell. For many vocalists it takes special training or hear-and-repeat skills to be able to adjust one's voice to the predispositions offered by the structure of the music. Joel wins with a nice rock sounding voice here. Such styles can be heard in several songs performed predominantly by female singers, whose voices sound similar to Sandra Nasić (Guano Apes) or Sheryl Crow.
The lyrics point out transitory and temporality attributes of an event. They fluently and rhythmically match the music which is supported with well thought out song construction and instrumental parts placed logically. In fact, you may hear the vocals in your head while merely reading the lyrics.
This true musician can be recognized by his passion and modesty, a general rule towards being successful. This Californian singer, bass player and guitar player doesn't endlessly shout on his social network profiles: "Buy my music now because I'm the best!!!" He also doesn't collect on-line friends like vouchers for further commercial use. He does however write music and awaits those listeners who can't get his dynamic compositions out of their heads.
"Temporary" is a song with a soul. How did Joel make it? Check out the song yourself. A free download can be grabbed from the Joel Smith Project ReverbNation profile along with other great tracks.
(Katarzyna NINa Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, January 19th, 2012).
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Reviewed by Google+ Music Reviews