Brighter Things – Before We Land
It now seems like ages ago since singer-songwriter Steven Jackson graced Augusta stages on a regular basis. With a twisted style that merged old westerns and Norman Rockwell-esque imagery, Jackson’s performances has always made use of his pounding boot, eager vocals, and energetic playing to build a decent roadmap to take the listener on a journey. The same care was taken over three CDs Jackson released since. (Two during his time in Augusta, one afterwards.) Jackson has always been just as much storyteller as balladeer. This has never shown to be as true as on his latest release “Before We Land”, this one under the moniker Brighter Things.”
On ”Before We Land” Jackson has taken all the elements that made Augusta releases “Gathering Rust” (1999) and “Boxfan” (2001), as well as post Augusta release “Home from the Fight” (2004) such great visual albums and added just that extra bit of modern flair to give it that extra omph.
Songs like “Wide Awake” and “Not a Bird” show Jackson’s soft romantic side without coming off schmaltzy. On the other end Jackson delivers on his romantic look of America with tunes such as “Bigger, Brighter” and “Florida.” Along the way Jackson finds a way to set the scenes…somehow he manages to set scenes that anyone can make their own. This is perhaps Jackson’s greatest quality. The ability to stray from simplicity without losing the listener.
Sure Jackson’s latest is also chock full of name musicians including Jeff Coffin (Dave Matthews Band), Eric Heywood (Ray LaMontagne), Sean Hurley (John Mayer band), Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter), and Rob Seals but it is Jackson’s compositions that are the true stars of “Before We Land.”
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