The moment you realize that somebody who’s from Athens Georgia has recorded all his three solo albums for a German specialist label, you begin to wonder will whether, even if very talented, will have wider success. Including coming into some respectable cash. Even if his name is Brent Cash.
Cash (the man, no not that one, and not related) has been around for a while, starting out in various Athens bands, mainly drumming, although he can play practically any instrument you please. So far, he has recorded three albums, including the new one, “The New High” for the German label Marina Records.
If you know the ‘sound’ of the label, you’ll be pretty close to where Brent Csh is coming from. The Shack, The Pearlfishers, The Free Design reissues, Brian Wilson tribute album… Yes, unabashed softer side of rock with an accent on harmony and feet firmly set in the sound anywhere from 1968 to 1973. Yes, that is the sound Brent Cash explored on all of his albums (including this one), and yes, they all sound great (including this one). Oh, and yes, a hive a favorable bias towards that late The Beatles (circa Abbey Road) and late The Beach Boys (circa Sunflower, Surf’s Up) sound.
While Cash’s first album, “How Will I Know If I’m Awake” (2008) had a very immediate sound and tunes that stuck in your head, “How Strange It Seems” from 2011 and the “The New High” are the growers that with every new listen come up with nuances that reveal the songs in a new light.
Cash played practically all the instruments except the strings (and they are everywhere on this album) and has sung all the solo parts and harmonies. It is immediately obvious that he is a man of many talents and his songwriting and arranging skills do not lag behind, to say the least.
What Cash has come up with here is no musical rocket science. Luckily. Sometimes it is hard to realize that the hardest thing to come up with is a good, well-played, sung and arranged pop tune. You have a set formula with set parameters and you have to come up with something that is good and works. Brent Cash has done that on this album (as on the previous two). “Dim Light”, “The Way You Were”, and “Edge of Autumn” are personal standouts, that just keep on growing on you. He definitely came up with “The New High”. The only question that remains is whether this excellent album will bring Brent some Cash…
