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Ezra Thomas glides from pop to alt-country to folk and back again with a surety and grace that simply astounds....© Fred Kraus

12 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Folk Rock, ROCK: Americana



Details:
You can ask, "Who is Ezra Thomas?" but don't expect to hear about a solo artist, because Ezra Thomas is a band. The beautifully melodic creation of two amazing musicians, singer/songwriter, guitarist Ezra Vancil and drummer/ percussionist Aaron Thomas, Ezra Thomas has been winning over fans in and around their home turf of Dallas, Texas for years. Now, still glowing from an impressive, acclaimed performance at Austin's SXSW Music Conference in March, these guys are ready to let everyone in on the secret that music need neither be fast nor loud to rock out! Take a listen to the band's latest album, The Weight of Being, and you'll understand what we mean.

Good songs are difficult, if not impossible, to find in the mainstream these days. You have to dig deep or walk curbside on the Pop Chart Highway to find strong songwriting and creative musicianship. With Ezra Thomas, serving the song takes center stage, with lyrics of substance and music that is compelling, intelligent and draws on a wide range of influences such as Bob Dylan, Dave Mathews, Duncan Shiek, Daniel Lanois, and The Beatles. Ezra Vancil's background includes three years perfecting his soulful vocal style with the acoustic folk/rock band, Gypsy Tree, with whom he recorded two studio albums. When Gypsy Tree disbanded, Ezra met percussionist Aaron Thomas and felt inspired to enlist the drummer's considerable skills for a 1994 solo effort, Closer. It was clear to Ezra and Aaron that both their musical sensibilities and personalities complimented each other perfectly. 1996 saw their first truly collaborative project, Buck 50, and the two played together in the highly successful Pop/Rock band, Dogma and the Universe, before the official formation Ezra Thomas in 1998.

Produced and engineered by Mark Hallman (Ani Difranco, David Garza, Oasis and Carole King), The Weight of Being is an adventurous recording, loaded with sparkling songraft, expert musicianship and tied together with Ezra's relentlessly flexible, engaging vocals. "Stereo," "Kinsman Redeemer" and "Paradise" fit comfortably within the new Americana movement - which encompasses artists as diverse as Ryan Adams and The Wallflowers -- while drawing on genre legends like Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn. Elsewhere, moods range from the gentle, southwestern sway of "Winter Girls" to the blues/funk vibe of "Break This Heart" -- a tune with you could easily imagine booming from the car radio alongside a classic track by Eric Clapton. "Kingdom Come" lays down a heavier sonic bed, with Ezra's vocals conjuring both the heady undertow of mid-period Peter Gabriel and the progressive feel of Gabriel's former band, Genesis, captured in the song's atmosphere, epic arrangement. As the disc nears completion with "Two Hands," Vancil's penetrating lap steel guitar paints a soul wrenching portrait of unrequited longing. Here we find the songwriter examining some remote cave of the heart to uncover metaphorically dense lyrics like, "Two hands in the dark are not enough to hold you." The Weight of Being offers twelve persistent, haunting melodies that work a groove into the soul, like ghosts from the past that you can't shake off.