Album Review: Jonathan Tyler 'Holy Smokes'

Hitting shelves August 7th, Jonathan Tyler’s new release, the highly anticipated Holy Smokes, will have you uttering those exact words after the first listen. Holy Smokes has a pulse; free flowing and varied, it oozes cool while taking you on a sonic trip that is simultaneously funky, ethereal, psychedelic, personal and thoughtful.

The record contains eleven tracks, including the trippy “Everything Was Cool in 2002.” It kicks off with “Hallelujah,” a take me to church, thumping hymn to the saving power of music and doing what you love. “Another blue collar man with a taste for action/Working for the man never gave satisfaction/So I picked up the guitar learned to play a little Muddy Waters and some Stevie Ray.”  Following that, the tempo takes a turn with the deliciously bluesy pickin’ of “Goin’ Down,” a song that just makes you want to go to the city, grab a stiff drink and listen to the band play.

The rollicking keys filled melody of “Honey Pie” contrasts the lyrics in which he wonders, “All the times we shared so close, tell me it was real/I did my best to be your man and I would do it again/ I did my best to be your man and baby that ain’t a sin/So tell me why honey pie, love went dry.” Relationships continue to be the focus in “To Love Is To Fly” and “Cannon Ball.” The former, a simmering duet with Nikki Lane, is about one of those (maybe not so healthy) relationships that brings you down, yet also provides the highs (literally and figuratively). The latter, with its soaring 70’s melody (including harmonica in the bridge), deals with a deep want of another. With its gritty guitar work, pulsating percussion and the repetitive “mines,” “Riverbottom” is a killer 3:29 in which he promises “I’ll give you my last dime if you say that you’ll be mine.”

Tyler’s reflective on “California Sunshine,” an ode to being able to be oneself, finding a new state of mind, and love, in the Golden state. “I wanna live, I wanna fall in love, I wanna show everyone I know what I’m made of……And I am on my way." That continues in “My Time Ain’t Long.” Co-written with Ray Wylie Hubbard, it’s a song that, by its conclusion, has you feeling that time is indeed slipping away.

“Late Night Special” and personal favorite “Disappear” round out a record that has a spirit; its melodies, along with Tyler’s unmistakable vocals, creating an atmosphere that surrounds you and swallows you up in the best way possible. Holy Smokes indeed.

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