Music Review // Gregory McLoughlin "Gregory McLoughlin"

When this self-titled album by Gregory McLoughlin begins, you can feel the tone set by the opening song, which happens to be called "You Set the Tone".   With elements of pop rock, this reminds me of artists like John Fogerty and just that classic type of sound we don't hear enough any more in rock music- it seems to be a thing of the past.   Going into the second song, "When I Was Sand", there is more of a blues/gospel sound to this one as the keys come in, but this also can take us into a faster and more upbeat vibe.  I'm thinking at this point of artists such as Nathan Leigh and The Hold Steady.

"Photograph" is a bit slower with this strong bass line that can make me feel like it's almost a reggae song, with these backup vocals that add the soul.   As we go into "Superficial Lines" I am thinking of the Barenaked Ladies but also there is this focus on the lyrics where lines- especially the title- are just repeated to where they become stuck in your head.  This can make a lot of the songs feel like good sing alongs.   "Life in Jersey" sings about how it's great, but also how people go there for the cheap gas.   All I can say about NJ is that it is illegal to pump your own gas there so I've always enjoyed going to the Wawa!

As this self-titled album has nine songs, you can think of it as being three parts, with three songs being the beginning, the middle and the end.   The last three songs begin with "Businessman", which was the single released prior to the album.  "Little Janessa" is a slower song that grooves through and kind of takes us to the end in a calm before the storm way.  While some albums have these sort of ballads where they choose to end on the slowest song, Gregory McLoughlin has used this as a way not to end but to kind of change up the sound to take us into an ending full of a bit more chaos.

"Rainy Days" closes out this album and it's a fast paced number which reminds me of bands ranging from the Refreshments to the Vandals.  There are also these undertones within which make me think of Bonanza for some reason.   This all comes together so nicely because the song itself is about how sometimes you feel like you're saving up for a rainy day, but we shouldn't be saving for those rainy days and we should be living life to its fullest.  It's just such a strong message, which this album has a lot of, and it comes with a sound which feels both lost over time and modern at the same time, but it's definitely something we need to hear more of in the present tense.