John
Hickman is an indie as it gets. Self-financed thanks to his previous career as
an aerospace engineer, Hickman isn’t beholden to a record company or any other
sort of tastemaker for his first full length release Remnants. It shows. This
is a far-reaching collection that exceeds anyone’s reasonable expectations for
a debut because of how hard it goes after different approaches and succeeds each
time. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a man who has literally spent years refining
and reworking his craft in anticipation for this moment, Remnants doesn’t sport
any filler at all. Instead, each of the album’s dozen songs are exquisitely
tailored in such a way that they will connect, at least at some point, with
virtually every listener over the age of thirty and many younger. This isn’t
music for a teenager, but there’s little question that Hickman writes, sings
and plays with the gusto of a young man setting out to conquer the world for
the first time.
Drums
like those opening the first track “Cascade” certainly sound like a call to
arms. The heavily rhythmic percussion and accompanying synthesizer lines usher
listeners into the track with great drama and the energy only keeps rising from
there. Hickman’s vocal brims over with confidence and he sounds like he’s with
every line. “Escape” has a much different tone, closer to uncompromising hard
rock, but Hickman is wise enough to alternate it with different passages where
he pulls back some on the six string assault. His voice never sounds out of
place in this environment. Another stylistic about face comes with the
striding, confident “Hello Hello” and Hickman’s accompanying vocal full of
inspiration and light. The mood shifts again with the vibrant acoustic colors
and textures invoked in the understated and gorgeous “Passing Thru”. Even when
Hickman revisits long standing clichés in song, he hits them with such panache
that they assume the veneer of the new and sound remarkably refreshed by his
treatment.
The
cinematic grandeur of “Remains of the Human Race” takes a seemingly bare bones
structure and builds a monumental effort from it dependent, primarily, on
Hickman’s strong storytelling aspects and the remarkably detailed science
fiction vision the song pushes on listeners. He reverts back to a much more
down to earth approach on the next song “Soiled Dove”. It’s another strong
example of Hickman taking familiar tropes in popular entertainment and song, the
fallen woman, and investing it with something entirely different than most of
us have heard before. His empathy for the character comes through in his vocal
and never sounds patronizing. “What Have You Done?”, the first of three huge
ballads near the album’s end, soars thanks to Hickman’s wide-eyed willingness
to explore his vocal range to the fullest extent. The lyrics, as well, rank
among the albums finest and Hickman does a brilliant job conveying their
message. The album’s final cut, “While Everyone Was Sleeping”, is a return to
Hickman’s rockier roots and he acquits himself on guitar quite well for a final
time. Remnants is an invigorating listen from first song to last and anyone who
encounters this album will likely find themselves wondering aloud when he’ll
release another.
9
out of 10 stars
INSTAGRAM:
https://www.instagram.com/johnhickmanmusic/
Aaron
Ellis
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