Distance Reawakens - my debut album

Hey guys, I'd love it if you could check out my debut album.

(pretentious cover alert)

I hope you get the vague sense of coherence and story I was going for with this tracklisting. I'm happy to take any constructive criticism about my singing or lyrics.

I understand that a lot of people here might not dig it, but I figured I'd see if it sticks with any of you. Thanks for all your help and support along the way.

http://www.facebook.com/michaeldermot

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Permalink Reply by Sdawg on June 9, 2011 at 5:54pm

I think it sounds really good.

But your last name confuses me.

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Permalink Reply by Jordan on June 9, 2011 at 6:07pm

Love the cover art.

Bored to Death is actually quite good. Great playing! Great singing! I'll give the rest a listen later.

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Permalink Reply by Margaret's Horsey [Jupiter 80] on June 9, 2011 at 6:23pm

I listened to the entire album, as promised to Michael Rowland. He actually told me to do it last week and I failed him - but I want to say that it was a nice surprise to hear this well produced material.

The albums tracks are guitar driven with a backed with a steady tempo drummer and an interesting bass line by the bassist that talks to the listener through all of the songs. Mikes vocals come across smooth and clear.

One thing that makes an occasional appearance is the piano; it sort of takes a backseat on this collection of songs. While the piano does compliment the sound when it is used, it doesn't dominate through the entire album like a Billy Joel album (not that it is a bad thing).

There is a wide variety of feelings presented in this album. You can tell that some of these were personal messages, like in the song Nova. A song like this shows how human Rowland is to his music: he wants to share his level of emotion in the best way possible through his musical abilities and his heartfelt lyrics.

In songs like Never Gonna Start, you can hear the change of pace when the song is present through an acoustic guitar. The style of this song reminds me of something by John Mayer on how it is presented.

Never Gonna Start transitions into Replaced - which is dominated by Weezer-like heavy guitar riffs. Rowland isn't copying a sound here; through this style, he is paying tribute to one of his musical influences.

The last track, When I Awake, shows the level of accomplishment that Rowland has put into this. While the song could be interpreted in many different ways, this track suggests that the experience of putting this together was almost like a dream coming true. For Rowland, he should be proud of putting this out and making his dreams become a reality.

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Permalink Reply by Sdawg on June 9, 2011 at 6:32pm

I wish Crackerjack could write a review as good as this.

Jupiter 8 said:

I listened to the entire album, as promised to Michael Rowland. He actually told me to do it last week and I failed him - but I want to say that it was a nice surprise to hear this well produced material.

The albums tracks are guitar driven with a backed with a steady tempo drummer and an interesting bass line by the bassist that talks to the listener through all of the songs. Mikes vocals come across smooth and clear.

One thing that makes an occasional appearance is the piano; it sort of takes a backseat on this collection of songs. While the piano does compliment the sound when it is used, it doesn't dominate through the entire album like a Billy Joel album (not that it is a bad thing).

There is a wide variety of feelings presented in this album. You can tell that some of these were personal messages, like in the song Nova. A song like this shows how human Rowland is to his music: he wants to share his level of emotion in the best way possible through his musical abilities and his heartfelt lyrics.

In songs like Never Gonna Start, you can hear the change of pace when the song is present through an acoustic guitar. The style of this song reminds me of something by John Mayer on how it is presented.

Never Gonna Start transitions into Replaced - which is dominated by Weezer-like heavy guitar riffs. Rowland isn't copying a sound here; through this style, he is paying tribute to one of his musical influences.

The last track, When I Awake, shows the level of accomplishment that Rowland has put into this. While the song could be interpreted in many different ways, this track suggests that the experience of putting this together was almost like a dream coming true. For Rowland, he should be proud of putting this out and making his dreams become a reality.