New Orleans based multi talented instrumentalist makes music that will stretch the ear. Get My Sound, Bernards debut, shows just what he can do. On the second song, the title track of the album, the listener is challenged that if we don’t get it, we’ll get in a little while, and we’ll be hooked like a junkie. Bernard sings the first two songs ala TV on the Radio. He’s like a poet with an espresso charge, and sometimes like a cup of sleepy time tea, a voice from a dream channeling the spirit of Sun Ra and John Coltrane.

It starts with Set Myself on Fire, an upbeat dancer with some wild New Orleans free jazz trumpet. This song has a great swell at the end. The second song is a funky song about shakin’ ass with great moments of vocal boogie and wild expression. This song presents the albums challenge.

Bernard is a performer, you can tell by his off the hook lyrics and his delivery antics. It’s a lot of fun and sounds like a party but then takes you to a different kind of venue, well executed slow indy rock, after that we find the tasty filling….improvisational/free jazz/instrumental compositions. Backwards synths, beautiful rides, distant horns.

Here’s my only dilemma, I can’t completely “get it”. I was hoping that something would glue these moods, that they would comfortably travel together. It’s hard for me to really take in the wonderment of songs like, The Last Days of Wine and Roses, a six minute meandering loose structured string and piano composition in contrast to title track Get My Sound or the song Trains to Yellow Moon Crashing Wave, which is a great piece as well and ends the album on a dreamy note. All the songs are good in their own way but I am so torn about the arrangement of songs and styles.

In conclusion I feel like Get My Sound plays like a compilation. It’s hard to appreciate all of the styles completely in this arrangement. I don’t want to discount this album, I think that a majority of the songs are A+. Don’t take my word for it, check ‘em out yourself. If your into an album that has a little bit of New Orleans jazz, a little bit of TV on the Radio, a little bit of slow instrumental indie rock and a healthy dose of experimental jazz there is definitely something on this album for you.

Official Website:
One Man Machine

Label:
One Percent Press

What others are saying:
Chin Music Press Inteview
article by Keith Spera of NOLA Times Picayune
The Tenth Ritual
article by Deidre Sayre at flagpole.com

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