In a series of successive themed sets, Louisville experienced singer/songwriter Nick Peay is back again with a new EP,Sobering. Following a familiar tale of addiction and the complications of life resulting from it, the EP was essentially put together and shelved several years ago before Peay and his band dusted it off and brought it to the studio. With a narrative that portrays the broadness of the topic rather than bogging down in specification and an organically produced rock sound that meets somewhere between the early reflections of Neil Young and Bob Dylan with the alternative 90’s pop-leaning sound of Collective Soul and Fuel, Nick Peay and his band offer an impressive and impassioned musical story to take in.
“Put This Bottle Down” strums to life with Peay speaking directly to the initial realization of addction, and as the song picks up it becomes more and more hook-fueled to the point where the early acoustic folk rock vibe is stomped beneath a more cautiously optimistic pop vibe. Interesting contrast to the subject matter, perhaps intentionally offering a glimmer of hope in the murky lyrics. “Every Morning” is more direct in its loud, lo-fi progressions, continuing the narrative with a bit of denial and anger. More or less a continuation of “Put This Bottle Down”, “Every Morning” rocks, rolls and hooks you with its strumming pace and cleverly inserted highlights. “I Won’t Fall In Love” is whereSobering takes a big turn, quietly weaving the addiction into the life of another as the narrator finds himself in a twisted encounter with a random bar patron. There’s more gritty realism in the lyrics that the more downtrodden music, complete with interwoven strings and an overall darker atmosphere, is easily overlooked. One way or another, “I Won’t Fall In Love” centerpieces the narrative. As the music progresses in different directions, it peaks on the title track, mixing the hooks with the moods previously introduced and passed through a creative melding pot that includes some interesting sounds. A tinny child’s piano fuses an oddly sad bit of melody, while the big close contains a palette of samples that combine to create one of the more deeply depressing tracks, front to back, that I’ve heard in some time. This seems to be the bottom of the addiction narrative, and the reprise of “Put This Bottle Down” only creates hope for the narrator because it creates a circular effect, reintroducing the upbeat opener to assumingly not leave the listener hanging on the deep dark of “Sobering”.
It is fascinating to me when a thematic record comes across as less thematic and more dramatic, basically presenting subject and then allowing the music and atmospheres to do as much (or more) of the storytelling than the lyrics. While Sobering seems to mostly meet itself in the middle on both sides, it is the intentionally thick and gritty production, Nick Peay‘s honest and warm vocal approach and the duality of optimism/pessimism that makesSobering such an experience worth partaking in. The subject itself is as familiar as any, but the approach is something I’ve never quite heard before when all aspects of the record are taken into consideration. It stands on its own as a collection of solid rock songs, but its the little things that separate and qualify it.