god i love this. that feeling when you find an artist that first makes you hit rewind all day long. it’s incredible. second, you start to finally branch out to that second song. well hell, a trend has started. third, fourth and fifth and next think you know you’re leaving chris koster an IM for the lyrics to your new favorite song.
well, it was my favorite song at the time. it seems i’ve got some competition for that title from the rest of his music.
ok, sit back and let’s dive in. i’ll get you started and then i’ll send you on your way.
koster is a candian rock singer formerly with the glorious sons as their founding guitarist. oddly enough i did not know this when i found his latest work while surfing spotify. i am not going to get into the split, why it happened or anything really before his solo stuff that started last year.
given that, the song i couldn’t stop listening to is sunglasses. it’s off of “ck stays up all night smiling” released last year. simply put, everything works in this song. the haunting beginning, the soulful vocals that convey a touch of sorrow back in there somewhere. you’re going to close your eyes and just let your mind go when you listen to this one.
let’s drop over to bomb shelter blues. it was a cool song in the background but lord the hooks will get you.
“i coulda taught a master class on how to be alone”. hell, this song seems a tribute to early justin furstenfeld. well, not as depressing but certainly as thoughtful.
let’s keep moving, this is like musical christmas!
tonight & the rest of your life and the rest that i am continuing to listen to over and over all carry the same theme with that being his attention to detail. everything in his music has a purpose. hints of new radicals in sound but done his way. love it.
in looking at the singles, i don’t write anymore, is typical of what i’ve come to find. that being, don’t expect a specific sound. koster doesn’t stick to any particular style or sound, and yet in doing so, it all does become his style and sound. unexpected. and wow, talk more love gets into some maroon 5 feeling. didn’t expect that.
speaking of unexpected – i totally am into his version of love is a battlefield. bravo.
now, dropping back on spotify anyway, we go from 2023 to 2004 with some of those mixed singles here and there. in a quick check of dates, these are his glorious sons years and that may be a later review. but i did a comparison between 2004 and 2023. it’s easy to see how much kostner has evolved. while the early music still told great tales, his ability to tell them more entertainingly has grown immensely.
in listening, you get the same soulful sound and lyrics. standing out to me, other than pretty much all of them, would include if u see me like this and love in the western world.
if i had to pick something in those 20 years, i’d say the arrangements and mixing in of different instruments had a hell of a start but has improved in that 20 years. His style has certainly broadened in how he tells his stories. 20 years well spent.
what you can expect is great music in some form that will move you. in the end, that’s all its supposed to do. check out koster on spotify and his youtube channel and give this non-style style a chance.
photo from Chris Koster Facebook page.
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