Bells & Whistles
The last time I heard much of Chase Pagan, he was performing at The Electric Theater in St. George, Utah: That was somewhere around four years ago, before the birth of MusicGeek.org. It’s with some pleasure, then, that it is that I give Bells & Whistles, his latest, a listen.
“Life Garden” | download
[audio:http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/LifeGarden.mp3]
When I first heard Pagan, he performed some nice, stripped down indie music. It wasn’t much to get worked up about, but it showed what I thought then was some “good promise” — and, hearing this album, it seems to have come good. Bells & Whistles is a solid record that places Chase Pagan’s pop sensibilities on display, with his falsetto-inflected melodies playing key roles alongside eclectic instrumentation — instrumentation that ranges from muted trumpet to honky-tonk piano without feeling forced or out of place.
“Gun and the Sword” | download
[audio:http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/GunandtheSword.mp3]
Pagan’s evolved into a respectable songwriter, it seems — and while I wouldn’t think he’d rank among the very top in the indie scene, he’s on the right path to finding some real musical success. Bells & Whistles, an album rich with sound and style, should be a good start to what’s looking more and more like a successful career creating music — even if he doesn’t get rich doing it.