Canadian artist Brett Kissel embarks on the most ambitious project in his career this year. Over the course of 2023 he intends to release ‘The Compass Project’ in four separate parts, ‘North’, South’, ‘East’ and ‘West’. We gave ‘South’ a glowing 4 star review earlier in the year, which you can read right here, and now all eyes are on the latest release, the stripped-back, mostly acoustic release of ‘East’.
Kissel spoke about the upcoming release, saying, “‘East Album’ is a collection of songs that reflect a more stripped-down, heartfelt side of me. It’s inspired by the ocean and my love for both coasts – the Atlantic and Pacific.” ‘West’ and ‘North’ will be dropping later in 2023. “I hope that throughout the year 2023, my fans – old and new – get a 365-degree view of me, my life, and my music. I can’t wait to embark on the journey with them,” Kissel says of the project in general.
The elephant in the room, with any acoustic or stripped-back release is that the songs stand or fall on the quality of the melodies and the stories being told alone. You can’t disguise filler with bells and whistles production values or guitar histrionics so ‘East’ has to be judged on whether a whole album of songs is enough to maintain your attention over the longer format of an album.
Well, I’m here to tell you it does. And then some!
There are some absolute gems of songs on this album, songs that excel in terms of the melodies in them and others that tell intruiging and powerful stories. If you are a melody-hound you’ll love album opener, ‘Spend a Little Time With You’. Delicate harmonies and acoustic guitars dominate on this track as Kissel sings about spending time with your loved one. ‘Time can go by so damn fast,’ he says, ‘All I wanna do is spend a little time with you.’ Similarly, ‘Nowhere’ and ‘Ten Years From Now’ hit you right where they need to from the off. Both are simple sparse songs held together by the power of Kissel’s vocals and the melodies in each. The former has a slight Gaelic tinge to it and the latter is just a simple rumination on the passing of time perfectly designed for intimate performances and writers rounds.
Moving through the melodies we have ‘Made it’ and ‘When I Get on a Memory’ vying for your attention too. “Made It’ begins with a ‘Shallow’-esque guitar line as it builds towards its them-against-us chorus as Kissel sings, ‘We never should have made it, every card was stacked against us.’ ‘…..Memory’, meanwhile, sees the introduction of the fiddle in a genius move that adds import and gravitas to a song about the passing of time. It’s these little production touches, some acoustic guitar here, fiddle there, that make each song breath on its own rather than seeming to feel like this is one long acoustic dirge-fest!
There’s a folky touch across some of the songs on ‘East’ too. ‘Coastline’ opens with the sound of the sea and a simple, repeating acoustic guitar line. Kissel sings about leaving home for ‘someplace under the sun’ and the Simon & Garfunkel-esque effects on his vocals here give the song a kind of 60s ephemeral vibe. Album closer, ‘Sanctuary’, meanwhile is awash with simple, yet quite intense Folk vibes. Kissel’s wife, Cecilia, joins him on vocals on this track as the pair delve into the spiritual side of things, touching upon energy, stillness, calmness, protection and peace. Perhaps the most impactful Folk-tinged song, and a strong contender for best song on the album, is ‘Port Colborne’. Kissel tells a dramatic, third person tale of loneliness and despair in a down-at-heel port town. It contains a fantastic chorus with Scottish and Irish overtones and comes across as having the Pop sensibilities of an artist like Ed Sheeran and the Folk credentials of Joni Mitchell. A heartwarming denouement adds to the cinematic feel of the track and I hope Kissel has the time and resources to make the video that this song demands.
I’ve mentioned ‘Port Colborne’ as a potential ‘best song on the album’ contender, so it’s time to talk about the other two tracks up for that accolade. ‘Drive’ contains an excellent melody underpinned by steel guitars and Kissel’s urgent, insistent vocals. It’s a tale of runaways and romance with a sort of Bon Jovi meets Springsteen blue-collar storyline running through it. The female backing vocal on the chorus adds the extra USP to this song as Kissel sings about heading for the state line with some passion and purpose. Alongside ‘Drive’, and sort of the partner-in-crime song to that one is ‘Meet Me in Vegas’. This is the only song on the album that I wish Kissel would work up into a full-band, electric version. It’s another them-against-us song dripping in drama with echoes of the great AOR songwriters like Richard Marx running through it like lettering through a stick of rock. A Richie Sambora-esque guitar solo sees that instrument used in anger for really the only time across the album as Kissel asks, “I hope your daddy’s cool with the sudden change of plans?’ I for one, as a father to a 20 year old daughter, am glad I’m not around when this fictional father finds out about his daughter’s plans to elope!
‘East’ is a masterclass of meaning and melody. The goal for any Country music artist surely must be to find where the intersection of those two disciplines meet. Sometimes writers have to sacrifice one to push the other into the spotlight but on ‘East’ Kissel has got the balance just right. Each song has something interesting to say and each one sounds different to the others, which is no mean feat when you are producing a largely acoustic based album. Melodies abound, harmonies are used sparingly but effectively and there’s enough drama and passion to keep you hitting repeat over and over again.
Tracklist: 1. Spend a Little Time With You 2. Drive 3. Nowhere 4. When I Get on a Memory 5. Coastline 6. Port Colborne 7. Ten Years From Now 8. Made it 9. Meet Me In Vegas 10. Sanctuary Record Label: Release Date: 28th April Buy ‘The Compass Project: East’ now
