Zak Smith Is Not Bruce Springsteen

I’m going to make it through this blurb without mentioning Bruce Springsteen ( - shit). Since I already broke my rule I may as well elaborate. You see, Zak Smith is from New Jersey and he plays vocals driven rock music which means he must be referenced to Springsteen. But to be honest, he’s not really like Springsteen.

Smith is able to conjure up a vocal sound that is not entirely unique, but is captivating. He contorts his Jersey accent (”and they wrote it out on the bathroom stall”) in a cathartic manner pulling his voice into uncomfortably high peaks. He draws from Tom Waits without trying to be Tom Waits - a good choice, indeed.

The downside to Smith is the fact that he has to rely on his vocals because the instrumental accompaniment is not particularly compelling. Minstrel Show is an exception and the backing of Smith’s vocals with a horn section does well to highlight his voice while providing interesting background instrumentation.

Zak Smith - Shots

Zak Smith - Minstrel Show

Zak Smith’s As Rome Burned was released on April 29th 2008. Buy.

Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically each day to your feed reader. If you don't have a feed reader, you can always have these articles delivered to your email inbox every day. Click here to sign up.