Thursday, June 14, 2018

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THOMAS STAJCER - WILL I LEARN TO LOVE AGAIN?

Poor Thomas Stajcer. Joel Plaskett's had him locked up inside of the bunker that is his New Scotland Yard studio, where Stajcer's the in-house engineer. Wouldn't you know thought, that anyone with such good ears would be a musician as well. While he's been slaving away on Plaskett's various projects (and his own, he's also produced albums for others), he's not just been working on his studio tan. Stajcer's debut has arrived, and it's a full country opus. Looks like we got us another country outlaw here, with some rough-and-ready real stuff, like those Waylon and Willie hits of back in the day.

Stajcer's album is a song cycle about the Sad Cowboy, one with a broken heart, who's faced with the titular question. "Now there's a million pieces of me, is there someone out there who can make me complete?" he wonders, and there's no clear answer, only hope for the desperate. He takes us through all the stages of hurt, from anger to hope of reconciliation to despair, each one in a different shade of country. There are weepers and barroom ballads, twangy rockers and one old-fashioned shit-kicker, How Long Could I Wait?, which hints that our cowboy may be coming through all right in the end.

The album doesn't land until July 6, but now's the time to catch Stajcer, as it looks like he's taking a few weekends off from the studio for some live gigs. He's at the Union St. Cafe in Berwick, N.S. on Friday, June 15, then at The Well in Miramichi, N.B. on Saturday, June 16. On Thursday, June 21 he's at the Trailside Music Cafe in Mt. Stewart, P.E.I., then the next night at the Sportsman's in Charlottetown. June 26 sees him in Antigonish, N.S. at the Townhouse, July 5 is the Carleton in Halifax, and July 6 catch Stajcer at the Trellis Cafe in Hubbards, N.S.

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