Instrumental depth undeniably matters as much as lyrical perspective does when it comes to making a thoughtful rock n’ roll record no matter the era in discussion, and there’s no getting around the way Alex Lopez prioritizes it in his new album Looking for a Change. Rather than centering all of his prowess on the elegant musical poetry of “Train,” “Night Closing In,” “Tell Me,” and “Politician,” Lopez is pouring a lot of emotion into the larger framework that makes his yearning skills on the guitar sound as haunting as they do here. He’s determined to make something multidimensional and reflective of who he wants to be as a performer in this album, and although I’ve heard him go the distance with a six-string in his hands before now, I think this is among his most exceptional work yet.
WEBSITE” https://www.alexlopezmusic.com/
The narratives presented to us within the tracklist of Looking for a Change feel personal on every count but equally relatable and devoid of the insularities becoming all too common in hard rock over the past decade or so. The eroding DIY culture that the music industry made huge leaps off of in the early internet age resulted in a circular element finding its way into the emissions of countless musicians and specifically rockers around the underground, but there’s something definitively open and airy about Lopez’s presence in “Wild as the Wind” and the title track for me to feel the same kind of boxy undertow in this music as I do that of the competition. There’s little here that has to do with persona; instead, we’re in the trenches of personality like few other artists can afford their audience.
There’s a good balance to the texture and tonality that we uncover in songs like “Whiskey Covered Woman,” “Looking for a Change” and “Train” that jumps out of the speakers and demands a reaction out of even the most discriminating of critics, and I love how much time and attention Lopez put into the minutest of details in the construction of Looking for a Change. There’s nothing in the foundations of this record that isn’t sterling and sophisticatedly designed to convey some true passionate statement from the man behind the music, and as much as I would love to hear this from around the music world, it’s just not going to happen this season.
I first fell in love with this album’s tone right off the bat, but having now spent some quality time with its complete tracklist I can say that those who adore the music of Alex Lopez will not be disappointed with what this man has given us in this set of ten tenacious tracks.
From the stunner “Train” to more understated numbers like “Spanish Blues” and “Night Closing In,” Lopez is a musician who isn’t scared to challenge himself even in the middle of a rather poignant harmony, and while I don’t think he’s the only singer/songwriter in rock that you should be following out the indie circuit right now, he’s understandably got the world on a string this September.
Chadwick Easton