A New Jersey native who has played with
and alongside some of the pre-eminent musical talents of our time, Dave Vargo’s
full length album debut Burning Through is truly a personal effort. His skills
as a guitarist helped make him one of the most in-demand live and studio
musicians around, but the eleven songs on Burning Through offer vivid evidence
of Vargo’s songwriting talents. He also shares production duties on the album
with drummer and percussionist Tim Pannella and surrounds himself with steady
cadre of talented musicians who help him bring these songs to life. The songs
are often atmospheric, but never garishly, and well balanced between electric
and acoustic textures. Vargo’s first solo album is obviously the product of
years playing with some of the best musicians in the world, but nothing here
feels too studied or lacks the sort of verve one might expect from someone’s
debut.
Burning Through opens with “Come Take
Me Home”. The song is built around acoustic guitar ornamented with tasteful
electric guitar touches and builds incrementally. Everything here is nicely
balanced and the disparate sonic elements flawlessly dovetail into one another.
Vargo’s voice is warm and patience, emotive without ever lapsing into histrionics
and it enlivens the obvious sincerity of the sometimes painfully earnest
lyrical content. “Good Enough” amps up the rock and roll side of Vargo’s
musical character without venturing too far afield of the template laid down on
the opener. His voice isn’t classically beautiful by any measure, but it has
enormous appeal and listeners will trust it immediately. The smoky, weathered
quality of his tone helps put over these lyrics about hard-won wisdom without
any theatricality – it’s just unvarnished honesty coming through and his band
members ably conspire to turn this into one of Burning Through’s most
propulsive tracks.
Outside of some ghostly electric guitar
fills swelling from the mix, “Wishing on a Star” is a beautifully lyrical
acoustic guitar piece about an individual’s dreams. Vargo and backing vocalist
Kim Boyko bring their voices together in a very entertaining fashion on the
song “Finding My Way To You” and, despite the primarily acoustic nature of this
performance, it has some of the same propulsive energy we heard in the earlier
“Good Enough” and perfectly measured organ fills from bassist and keyboardist
Erik Romero. Vargo’s songwriting frequently tackles weighty themes, but “Too
Young To Be Broken” is one of the most heartbreaking moments on the album and
the amount of sheer empathy pouring out of Vargo’s performance will undoubtedly
affect many listeners. It is, once again, a primarily acoustic outing that
Vargo adorns with some understated percussion and occasional haunting electric
guitar fills. Tim Pannella’s drumming sets an interesting quasi-march tempo for
“Waiting” that complements the vocal melody and the acoustic guitar work, as always
on this release, shimmers with tremendous evocative quality.
Burning Through concludes with “Pieces
of My Heart”, another illustration of the value Pannella’s drumming brings to
the material on this debut. His rolling tempo is a perfect fit for Vargo’s
guitar work and Vargo brings equal parts assertiveness and sensitivity to the
vocal. There’s a lot of clearly singer/songwriter oriented material on this
album, but there’s an irrepressible rock and roll spirit peeking out from many
of the arrangements that gives it a welcome added bite. Dave Vargo’s turn in
the spotlight is a rewarding listen for any serious music fan.
9 out of 10 stars
Jason Hillenburg
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