It only takes a few seconds in a music store to see how over saturated an art it is. Every man and his dog is picking up an instrument and singer songwriters are ten-a-penny so what, if anything, sets apart Cory Tauber and his EP, Ok. Today from the rest?
I can say without any hint of a lie that standout track The Messengers with its doo-doo-doo-woah-woah-woah vocal melody has stayed in my head for days, constantly flicking my ears and forcing me to listen again. Imagine Jack Johnson, perhaps the epitome of summer music a few years ago, mold that with Ben Howard and multiply infectiousness by a million and you might get close to what this track is about. Other tracks such as You’re My Eyes showcase Tauber as a sensitive, almost downbeat lyricist and I’m sure that deep down, there might be a poet hiding in there somewhere. Where Ok. Today excels though is in Taubers intelligence of knowing how to enhance a melody. Vocal overdubs, pianos, organs and my personal favourite, the harmonica, are all used but delicately so, enhancing each track without ever falling into the trap of over doing it.
So what’s the catch? If something sounds too good to be true it usually is, so here it is…Ok. Today is perhaps too nice. No kid will be buying this album like I did with Wu Tang Clan to piss their mum off. In fact, your mum will probably like to listen along to this with you, maybe your grandma will too. I can’t condemn anyone for being universal unless they are genuinely writing poor music and with Ok. Today that isn’t the case and if you need any proof of this, here’s some for you: Ok. Today has been on constant repeat for a week now, and I’m still not tired of it.
[rating: 4]
www.corytauber.com
