Chris Ayer - Don't Go Back to Sleep Review
Posted by Cory Johnson on 07.19.2009
He won the John Lennon Songwriting award....so you know he is talented, but is he worth listening to?
Background
Chris Ayer studied philosophy and music at Stanford prior to relocating to Brooklyn, NY. Ayer began to gravitate more and more towards music, releasing a string of independent albums including Static, New Songs, This is the Place, Live Sessions, and The Center Ring. Ayer’s was determined to share his music on his own terms, acting as his own tour manager, publicist, booking agent, and marketer. Ayer’s hard work paid off in 2006 when his song “Evaporate” won the prestigious John Lennon Songwriting contest in 2006. Don’t Go Back to Sleep is Ayer’s second major label album.
Tracklist
1. Opening
2. Lost & Found
3. Awake
4. Let Go
5. Pretty Poison Things
6. Long Gone
7. This is a Test
8. In the Silence
9. The Revealing
10. Roy G Biv
11. On Your Way
12. Say What You Mean
13. Highway Home
On the album’s 13 tracks, Ayer moves deftly between different song styles, showing the wide range of his talents. All of the songs are grounded in acoustic guitar writing style, but Ayer keeps throwing curves and twists into his songs, preventing the album from becoming predictable.
The sunny track “Opening”, um, opens the album with a laid-back bonfire on the beach feel. “Lost & Found” has a more straight-forward folk-rock sound, with some beautiful soaring electric guitars harmonizing on the chorus. “Awake” is a sweet little song, alternating from a plucking folk sound on the verses and a strum along chorus. “Awake” features some of the best lyrics on the album:
What I have found isn’t easy to forget, I haven’t lost I just haven’t won quite yet.
It’s not far away; I’m waking up more each day,
‘cause I know, if this is the main event, just let me be awake for it.
“Pretty Poison Things” is a great little college radio song, upbeat and catchy about a girl in a food court-that has to be a new source of inspiration. “Long Gone” is decent, but feels a little too drawn out. “This is a Test” zips along and feels like a perfect B-side to “Pretty Poison Things”. “In the Silence” is a quiet song that really drags the album down, as does “The Revealing” even though it continues to build, it just doesn’t feature anything compelling.
Things pick back up with “Roy G Biv”, possibly the highlight of the album, a strum along perfect jaunt about connecting in the digital age. The lyrics are perfect, wry and winking, but amazingly not sarcastic.
and by the bloggers grace, and by Limewire and Myspace
we are going sell it off to the hipsters and pre-teens
“On Your Way” is a good mid-tempo song about getting to your destiny. It is a tribute to Ayer’s sincerity that he can pull this song off. “Say What You Mean” is harmless song that benefits from some good percussion, slide guitar, and lyrics about preventing regrets. “Highway Home” is a quiet coda to the album, just over a minute long and a decent way to end the album.
Analysis Don’t Go Back to Sleep is a huge statement from a singer-songwriter destined for heavy play on adult AOR stations. The album is a huge statement because Ayer covers a huge diversity of styles on this album and does almost all of them well.
One of the most impressive things about Don’t Go Back to Sleep is Ayer’s obvious joy in music. His music might not fit into easy categories, but all of his music features an undercurrent of driving, impatient optimism that never sounds forced or unrealistic. This self-made music man clearly loves what he does and Don’t Go Back to Sleep showcases his musical passion.
The album definitely rewards repeat listens, because some of the lyrics and songs have some great subtleties that shine through, such as the ringing, almost haunting notes at the end of “Awake” or the slow, soaring build of “Let Go”.
Ayer’s voice, while not overpowering or dominant, is filled with passion, and it is hard to imagine another singer conveying the emotion that he generates. His voice adds to the sincerity of the music.
Not all the tracks work, as oddly for a singer-songwriter, the quiet songs stand out in the wrong way taking the album in unwanted directions (“In the Silence” and “The Revealing”). Some of the songs suffer by comparison to the rest of the album, because they are just not as strong (“Say What You Mean” and “On Your Way”. Don’t let the missteps cause you to miss a really strong album otherwise.
Essential iPod Songs
Awake, Pretty Poison Things, Let Go, Roy G Biv
Worth a Listen
Lost & Found, Opening
Live Performance of “Awake”
The 411: Chris Ayer's Don't Go Back to Sleep is one of those albums that really becomes something special the more you listen to it. While a few of the slower songs sour the album, the upbeat and optimistic songs never turn into a sugary-sweet pollyanna mess, a direct tribute to Ayer's songwriting skills. Songs like "Roy G Biv", "Awake", and "Pretty Poison Things" will get stuck in your head...and they should. This album should appeal to fans of Paul Simon, Jack Johnson, and Aware record artists. Don’t Go Back to Sleep is definitely worth the energy it takes to get into this album.
