Never Shout Never — Unborn Spark (6/12/20)
I’ve always considered myself good at sticking with the bands I discovered in high school, but that’s not the case with Never Shout Never.
I was listening to this acoustic pop project fronted by Christofer Drew back in his EP/demo days in 08/09 with Demo-shmemo, The Yippee EP, Me & My Uke, and The Summer EP. The songs “Heregoesnothin,” “Bigcitydreams,” “Dare4distance,” and “On The Brightside” go down as favourites.
These songs are from Drew’s teen years and they hold a wide-eyed youthfulness to them with lyrics that easily struck a chord with the young alternative-leaning crowd.
Since those EPs, he’s taken on a backing band and has released several albums with a more developed sound. I was well aware of the debut full-length What Is Love? in 2010 but I just never got around to it and over the years NSN has fallen off my radar.
I’ve stumbled onto the band again with this latest album and it turns out Christofer Drew is back on his own. It’s been five years since the last full-band album. In late 2018 Drew tweeted that NSN was finished but it looks like he’s chosen to continue performing under the name just as it began: as a solo project.
So, I suppose it’s fitting that I cross paths with him again at this stage in his career.
It’s funny to hear the guy ten years removed from the person he was when I first discovered him. He’s certainly not the teenage boy he once was as he displays a much more mature sound than shown on his early recordings.
Sadly, it feels like the fun is removed from his music. He had such a bright energy to his early recordings and in comparison, he sounds a bit deflated on these new songs.
Though it may not bring up nostalgic memories of his early days, the music still has its worth…at the very least, for Drew himself.
Creating music is therapeutic for artists and with an album like this, I can appreciate what these songs mean to Christofer Drew. But it’s one thing to create music that is healing for you as an artist, but to create music that is healing to the listener…I suppose that comes down to who’s listening.
And my motto has always been, if the music doesn’t move me, then it’s likely the lyrics won’t either. My shallowest opinion of this album is that none of these songs do enough to excite or move me.
My critical opinion would tell you that each of these songs (that he’s been working on for a few years) are very heartfelt and hold their own share of delicate beauty.
Sure, he’s no longer the peppy teen of ten years ago, but you’d never hear such a poetically tragic song like “The Hotter It Burns” on his older stuff.
This whole album has a somberness to it not felt on his teenage recordings. It’s not meant to evoke the same feelings as ten years ago. Drew is 29-years-old and these songs hold many more years of experience within the words than what he had to share back in the day.
“Slowpoke” is a dream. True to its name, the song brings the album to its slowest pace but it may just offer the most reward. There’s beauty in simplicity, and as Drew lists off his daily routine he creates the scene of just trying to live in peace and not allowing troubled thoughts to overtake his mind.
An album like this reminds me of why I take the time to review music. If I was just a casual listener I’d likely shake this album off with the shallow opinion I presented earlier. But within writing this review and really sitting on these songs I am able to find some deeper beauty to the music and come a little closer to appreciating the songs as Drew intended.
Most of my favourite songs come effortlessly, and while none of these will be contending for my top 100 of the year list, I’m glad I was able to find some beauty in this music.
