Sliver Park
Self-Released, 2021
8/10
The New York native Neil Jacobson has an impressive resume that includes producing, composing and developing several animated TV series. On this 4th solo album, Jacobson plays all the instruments on 9 tracks with a very unique delivery and well thought out wordplay.
“I’m Trying” starts the album with spirited organ as Jacobson’s raw but inviting vocals enter the restrained rock climate, and “Top Of My Cycle” follows with a rugged quality to the precise drumming and radiant guitars that occasionally break into a solo.
Near the halfway point, “Voodoo” benefits from bouncy bass work as a playful, rhythmic setting builds, while “Brand New Product” is even more bare but with some atmosphere and louder bouts of alt-rock. “Lightning”, a particularly memorable track, then recruits acoustic guitar amid a darker quality as Jacobson illustrates much depth musically and lyrically.
“Victim Of Poor Choices” and “My Own Murder (Revisited)” bookend the listen, as the former moves cautiously but with a bit more density, and the latter finishes the record with much beauty and grooves where psychedelic nods are present.
Jacobson covers a lot of territory on the rock’n’roll spectrum here, and he excels in both loud and quiet settings. Ultimately, a concept record about technology making the world smaller, and in the process taking it’s toll on the poor, the animals, and our forests, he suggests we rethink our priorities and uses his vast experience and talent in an imitable fashion to persuade us.
Travels well with: John R. Kjellstrom- John R. Kjellstrom; Wudewuse- Northern Gothic