I don’t normally keep an eye on country music album releases, but when I heard that Kiefer Sutherland had an upcoming album, I got excited to say the least.
After getting over the fact that Jack Bauer was singing to me, and actually listened to the music itself, I found that I was really enjoying it on its own merits. The is a great, solid country album with a tonne of variety.
Track by Track… Bauer
I’m sorry, I really couldn’t help the bad pun there.
“Down In A Hole” kicks off with the overdrive-guitar sound of “Can’t Stay Away”. It’s a solid introduction to the album with some lovely female backing vocals too.
“Truth in your eyes” is the next song, and is just as solid as the previous. It deals with the theme of lost love, but approaches it with an upbeat tempo and delivery.
The first single to be released off of this album, “Not Enough Whiskey”, is the fourth song. Aside from my huge man-crush on Kiefer Sutherland, this song was a big reason why I was excited for this album. It encapsulates most of what I thought a lot of country music dealt with – lament for a lost loved one.
I really like the guitar work on the album too. “All She Wrote” is a thumping, guitar-chugger that takes its time to build itself up, being the album’s longest song at just under five minutes. I love turning this up to full. Another great example of guitar work is “Going Home”, which has a great solo towards the end. This solo really stuck out to me on the first listen.
On one hand, as the album does have some absolute belters, it also has the beautiful “Calling Out Your Name”. It’s a light acoustic number with some light accompanying waa waa, and does well to showcase Kiefer’s abilities as a singer.
Headphones on, Jack in
Before I started branching my musical tastes out, I had two perceptions of what country music was. The first idea I had was a hillbilly style, the other was the stories of jilted lovers who had been driven to drink and depression. Recently, however, I have learnt to appreciate more of the nuances of country music, and “Down In A Hole” explores a variety of them.
I highly recommend sticking some headphones on, cranking it up to eleven, and rocking out. I think my fellow commuters may want to kill me though… Damn it.