EPK & more videos!Read just about any contemporary bio of a musician or band these days and you'd be hard pressed not to encounter such neologisms as stonesy and the ever excessive dylanesque, used to describe any singer who ever strummed a guitar or played a harp. People are good at telling you who someone sounds like, but not so much what the sound actually is, and more importantly, what it does for the listener.
Marq DeSouza has had more than his share of fumbling comparisons from those less gifted with the eloquence he so easily lays down in his recordings. His eminently quotable lyrics are exactly what you would've said in a dozen different situations over the years - if you'd only had more time. Attempts to pigeonhole him have always amused me, and the more he defies classification, the farther the pundits have to reach; till they're tripping over their own similes and hopelessly entangled in circular references.
It's not who or what Marq DeSouza sounds like; he sounds like himself, let that go; it's who he is that's important. Listen to what he says, listen to what he felt was important enough to put down on paper in the first place, and spend months recording before giving it to you. He isn't telling stories about him self, he's telling stories about you. And me. And the people you and I thought we knew.
Each track on this album is a unique voice, telling hard truths and asking tough questions with answers we don't always want to hear. The voices speak of hope and tragedy, love and loss and sometimes redemption, but they never lose that essential truth. And ultimately that's why this music is so damn listenable; it gets under your skin and it changes you. He's not making shit up here. He's talking about what it's really like out here, and once you know the truth, well, it's hard to pretend you don't anymore.
If you've made it this far and you're still reading, do me one last favor and I'll shut-up for good. Listen to one track on this album. Just go ahead and pick one, doesn't matter which, if it doesn't ring true to you, toss it out and tell me I'm wrong. But if it does speak to you, go back and listen to it from the beginning. I guarantee you're going to start to hearing things you'll be glad you took the time to listen for.
Every time I put this disc on, I hear something new. I won't spoil any of the surprises or try to give you my take on it, because music is personal, and your experience is different from mine. But if you ever want to talk about it, drop me a line, because I know what you're going through; that's why I wrote this: Because I want you to hear what I hear.
-Justin Clow- Producer, Director, Writer Wicked Awesome Theatre
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