Georgia Country singer-songwriter Dylan Marlowe moved to Nashville just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and he signed a publishing and artist development deal with Play It Again Entertainment. Following his first number one hit, as a songwriter on ‘Last Night Lonely’, recorded by Jon Pardi, Marlowe signed a deal with Sony Music Nashville. His 2023 EP ‘Dirt Road When I Die’ gave fans a taste of what to expect from the rising star and just over a year on from that Marlowe is unleashing his debut album ‘Mid-Twenties Crisis’.
‘Mid-Twenties Crisis’ features the lead single ‘Boys Back Home’ featuring Dylan Scott, which has proven to be a moderate hit at Country Radio and on the Country Charts in the US. The 15-track collection sees Marlowe co-writing every single song, except the title track which he wrote solo, and he’s teamed up with some of the best songwriters in the business including Seth Ennis, Trannie Anderson and Lindsay Rimes. According to Marlowe the album was written over the last two to three years and from listening to the record, you can hear these songs are from different life stages.
Opening track ‘Heaven’s Sake’ sounds more like a 90s alt-rock song than it does a Country track. That 90s rock vibe is present on many of the tracks on the album and the sound is more Blink-182 and Sum 41 than fans might be expecting based on the songs they’ve heard from Marlowe so far. The album’s first highlight, and actually one of the best songs on the record, is the title track. Marlowe benefits from pulling back the production and allowing his voice to take focus. Backed with an acoustic riff, it’s one of the album’s more emotionally honest moments and it shows the potential he has.
Aside from the identity crisis that Marlowe is having, trying to tick too many musical boxes, the album doesn’t fully reveal who the rising star is to the listener. Songs such as ‘Heart Brakes’ are enjoyable but they sound too similar to what other emerging male Country stars are doing right now. ‘Stick To My Guns’ featuring Riley Green is one of the stronger tracks, focusing Marlowe on a modern Country sound that allows him to stand out. The acoustic ‘Hang It Up’ is another highlight, proving once again that when it comes to Marlowe and his music, less is most definitely more. He’s a gifted vocalist and songwriter, but that gets lost too often on this record.
Other songs worth checking out are the ballad ‘Shop Radio’, the radio-friendly ‘There Goes That’ which is a little Sam Hunt and incorporates the R&B influence so prevalent in Country right now, and ‘You Did It Too’, which again strips things back for the better. The best is saved for last with ‘The Fence’, where Marlowe gives his most passionate vocal and digs deep lyrically. I wish there had been more songs like that one on this record.
‘Mid-Twenties Crisis’ is an accurate title for an album that isn’t quite sure what it wants to be. Marlowe has potential, that’s evident here in the songs that are more stripped back and veer away from the pop/rock sound that kicks the album off. At 15 tracks the album is too long and at times a little unwieldy, lacking cohesion and frenetically jumping from genre to genre. There’s a good 10-track album in here if you’re willing to pick off some of the weaker tracks. Where Marlowe goes from here will be interesting to see.
Track list: 1. Heaven’s Sake 2. Deer on the Wall 3. Mid-Twenties Crisis 4. Heart Brakes 5. Stick To My Guns (feat. Riley Green) 6. Hungover in a Deer Stand 7. Hang It Up 8. Shop Radio 9. Devil On My Shoulder 10. I Never Miss 11. There Goes That 12. Boys Back Home (with Dylan Scott) 13. You Did It Too 14. Bat Outta Hell (With a Boat On The Back) 15. The Fence Record label: Sony Music Nashville Release date: 27th September 2024
