Sethaferg: Starless
Seth Ferguson, the Appalachian Justin Timerblake, one half of the Keekers and Ferg #1 Podcast Show, future hillbilly pop star? Anyone following the pre-release of Starless has been witness to what I would consider to be one of the most entertaining, confusing build ups in music history. For those who haven’t, it's a tale of a man who has struggled with marketing an album through traditional means. There are a lot of people that will hear the new album with some measure of confusion; it’s an album that is only possible through an Appalachian voice, but isn’t what one would consider regionally typical. There isn’t a banjo anywhere on the album, but there’s a lot of drum machine, disco pop, and hip hop influences.
The format of Starless follows what one would see in hip hop circles: a common thread in a talent with almost every song including a feature. The album has a very comfortable feel, and is clearly a base of a healthy portion of R&B with some elements of hip hop, mixed in a way that goes down like radio pop anthems.
The opener on the album “A Little Bit More (feat. OSO Amarillo) feels like I’ve turned on to a pop radio station, and I mean that in the most positive way possible. It is an immaculately produced track with silky vocals. The hooks in this song you’ll find yourself humming before the song is even over (that isn’t an exaggeration, I was literally humming the hook by the end of my first listen).
“Astral Lover (feat Campbell Magallanes)”: what can you say about this other than the synth dripped track and vocals from Campbell Magallanes immediately call to mind 80’s pop. Can nostalgia sound fresh? I think “Astral Lover” answers that question. It’s synth pop at its pinnacle. It’s an immediate reminder that this album isn’t about being a complex series of preachy messages or a stripped down open wound of a record. It’s made to make you smile and move. In a world of records trying to prove something, this album is fun for the sake of it.
No pop record or R&B record is complete without a sultry piano song. Sethaferg clearly knows this. “Will There Be Light?” is somewhere between a 90’s R&B Classic and a 90’s indie rock classic. This showcases a thematic center in this record: a tribute to styles of music without coming across as a copy and paste.
“Nasty Little Habit” is a standout on the record for me personally, and is an interesting take on the pop formula. Musically it isn’t the standout on the record. But vocally, Haley Shannon melts walls. In the circle of independent music, there’s almost an ethos of making your record sound removed from pop production, Sethaferg clearly and consciously abandoned that ethos for this track. If this song showed up on the radio I don’t think I would even question it, it fits. A toxic relationship anthem which is beautiful and lively.
This review would be incomplete without the mention of the lead single. “On the Way” is retro, indie pop with a modern twist in production. Lo-fi backing vocals, forward well recorded and produced lead vocals. Tongue in cheek lyrically, musically, thematically.
If you know any of Seth’s ventures, or hear him on the #1 Podcast Radio Show, you’ll know that he may be one of the most irreverent and funny human beings on this spinning rock we all share. There’s a satirical vibe to the record, which is cheeky but masterfully done. It isn’t a joke, but it isn’t serious either, and in a way, that’s the beauty of the record. You don’t make, produce, live and breathe a record to fruition without a lot of love and diligence. Sethaferg’s Starless still never takes the “I’m an artist with important things to say” approach, instead it reminds us that sometimes we just want to listen to a song that makes us smile and sing along. We have a nasty little habit (and by we, I mean me, but I’m going to speak for all of us) of thinking of pop music as a “stamp and go” shallow art, and give no credence to the effort it takes to make. But, hearing an independent artist make a true pop record, it’s joyous, it’s celebratory, and it’s a light at the end of a dark tunnel that has been the last year and a half.
So take a minute, listen to Sethaferg’s Starless out 6/11. Roll the window down, take a drive, turn it up and have a good time. It’s what albums like this were made for!
Find out more about Seth Ferguson aka Sethaferg below:
