Back in high school I only knew him as Dave, the nice kid in the marching band drumline who played some wicked strong licks with my friends Matt and Darren. Clearly David Bazan has built a tremendous career around music, fronting the indie group Pedro the Lion for over a decade before branching off into a solo career. The road has been long and winding, increasingly filled with critical introspection, spiritual questioning, family responsibilities, and a tumultuous relationship with alcohol. Bazan’s latest solo full-length Strange Negotiations, recorded with 2009’s Curse Your Branches touring band, finds the songwriter moving beyond the heady theological struggles in the autobiographical Curse, now turning that critical lens outwards, examining his loss of faith in God, government, and one another. Instrumentation-wise, the collection is slightly pared down, keeping the core of guitars, bass, and drums and doing away with keyboards. What results is another intensely humane, musically relevant, poignant rock album from the man that many know as David. – Written by SMarx
SIMILAR | Headphones, Damien Jurado, Pedro the Lion, The Soft Drugs, Rocky Votolato, Denison Witmer