Review:

on 2010-05-11 jakekingston Said:

I first heard of Royal Wood when I chanced upon his tune Weigh Me Down on his myspace page (oh myspace, the social network that time forgot). I immediately searched out to buy the album expecting an album full of dark sweetly sung intense tunes, suggested by the wonderful album cover, that clicked with Royal's unique songwriting capabilities. I was wrong. And now Tall Tales is stuffed somewhere in the ethers of my CD storage, never to be heard from again. I occasionally checked up on Royal to see what he was up to, to see if he took the best from Tall Tales and incorporated those elements into his new recordings. Unfortunately based upon the snippets here and there he did not.

On 20102s The Waiting, the same is true. The minute you hear those soft adult-contemporary guitars and predictably cued Sarah McLachlan drums on You Can't Go Back, you know what to expect from each subsequent song until you get to the end (if you get that far). It's a shame too, because the banality of the production really stifles Royal's engrossing songs. He is an undeniable talent, if only he knew how to direct it, or work with someone who would get his music into the realms of the Rufus Wainwrights and Chris Garneaus, not the bore fest that is Canadian adult contemporary, because no one wants an Amanda Marshall resurgence.

Even Royal's vocals are consistently boring throughout The Waiting. Never does the grain change, or the effect, or the easy listening backing vocals. Instead of playing it safe, he should be accenting those breathed strains that make his voice quirky and original. The album treads on with few surprises. Royal works hard to level out any highs and lows so that they become small up and down curves--maybe this way he'll be featured on Grey's Anatomy again. This production style (if you can call it that) does occasionally work: The Island and Paradise are a few examples, but I said it before and I'll say it again, it's a complete shame because these songs call out for more. It would be exhilarating to hear Royal's songs with some effected drum beats, fluttering synthesizers, big orchestrated horn sections, instead of the brushed drums, clean acoustic guitars, and safe bass lines. Or conversely, what these songs would sound like completely stripped of any backing music besides Royal's intoxicating piano riffs. Maybe then the Rufus Wainwright comparisons would be justified.
Rating: 5/10