Axiom
Cavity Search, 2021
9/10
Perhaps best known as the drummer for Jerry Joseph And The Jackmorons, Steve Drizos puts his engineering and producing skills to work here as he plays many instruments and sings alongside help from his wife, Jenny Conlee Drizos, who you might recognize from The Decemberists.
The title track starts the listen with atmospheric, post-rock ideas as sound bites provide the only vocals amid psychedelic influences that enter the dense landscape, and “Juggling Fire” follows with acoustic guitar and versatile singing from Drizos, where folk ideas and strings add much diversity.
In the middle, the keyboard friendly “You Don’t See That Now” brings in Kyleen King for a strumming duet where much beauty exists, while “Softer, Please” is actually a louder display of melodic and gritty alt-rock that could fill stadiums with its punchy and anthemic quality.
Near the end, “Take You Home” benefits from cautious keys amid an intimate and poetic delivery that’s not without its fuller moments, and “Liminal Space” exits the listen with an emotive and soaring execution of power and melody, which enters jam band territory for the back half of the finish.
Drizos has been a touring musician for 25 years now, and he uses that vast experience to pull off an exceptional debut solo album that’s often indebted to the best moments of the ‘90s, and run through his inimitable vision of multifaceted rock.
Travels well with: Quiet Marauder- Tiny Men Parts; R. Stevie Moore- Afterlife