Reviews:: Nick Rose Cloverhill

It's amazing that you don't stumble on more Canadian musicians that are influenced by Ryan Adams. In the US they are popping up as frequently as... well, Canadian bands trying to sound like Arcade Fire. When it comes to the lush, heart broken roots music, Canadians just tend to move in different directions.

That's why the first track on Nick Rose's Cloverhill EP grabbed me right away. Knock on Wood has all the makings of one of those classic Adams tracks. Rose's smooth, heartfelt delivery and the gentle swoon of the steel guitar that hovers in the distance make this track hard to ignore and something more polished - and to be honest skilled - than you'd expect on a young song writer's debut.

Now don't get me wrong, Nick Rose isn't anywhere close to a Ryan Adams clone. In fact, he exhibits a nice amount of variety on his debut EP. The country folk of Summer Dress is probably the standout track for me as Rose and his band add some great textures (pedal and an interesting electric noodle) over top of this back porch ditty, but the entire EP shows Rose stretching his legs and his imagination. Light at Dawn is a straight ahead up-tempo country number with some stellar keyboard work and without going on and on there's honestly not a bad song on this EP. Well worth a listen for any roots fans.
[MP3]:: Summer Dress

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