A combination of the Douglas Ray Jaffe Project and producer Craig Brandwein make for bunch of talented musicians unable to hum and play a bad note on Angles, the latest EP from the lyric writer Jaffe, with four tracks featuring four singers to convey his wordsmithing. Jaffe himself is known to be a mystical poet of sorts, with stories selected for others to sing on the Douglas Ray Jaffe EP – Angels, where he gets the chance to work with different singers for each recorded track spanning four southern based pop and country gems worth seeking out in today’s world of distractions.
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Most music going around in the pop and country pop realm don’t match this energy and integrity, so it’s a breath of fresh air when a poet’s words are magnified into songs by any means, and Jaffe’s work comes from the deep end without question. The singers recruited for this project couldn’t be better selected in the greater scheme of things between Alabama region players and the producer’s reach to come up with such ensembles, which deliver world renowned results on everything they do together. It is quite the circle of musicians who make up all of Craig Brandwein produces.
Whether it be the brilliantly arranged music tracks or the applied vocals laid down the way the singers only can, or how well the singers did in the process, you get the best of both worlds on this EP, with old and new values mingling together seamlessly. “Paychecks And Dreams” is the first example with Drey Arnold handling the vocal duties and absolutely killing it to set the bar high, even though it only has three more tracks to go.
“Brooklyn Eyes” really serves to up the stakes with Mollie Flotemersch competing for the most attention, and if that were to be the case she wins hands down, but it’s music, so enjoy what you can and let the audience sort it out. The song itself is of lesser excitement than Flotemersch’s contribution, so the showcase factor prevails, and you’re left with chills once it’s over and nothing left to do but hear it again, as you’ll want to loop it and put it on your favorite playlist. This is a work of most excellent quality and then some.
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/album/angles-ep/1825217205
What more is there to be said about the Angles EP by the Douglas Ray Jaffe Project? New York transplant, Natalie Kasper, makes her way into the picture with her truly gifted voice on “To Pass,” a song with a different vibe than Kasper is known for, giving her voice room to stand out from her normal career routine. Kasper just keeps you reminded to keep listening to Angles, all the way out. But that’s where the story ends with Bob Schnider’s turn at the wheel in which he delivers a humorously serious story about the state of the world in modern times. “Today’s Forecast… Anything Goes” speaks volumes for itself, with Schnider telling Jaffe’s words like they are. It might even remind you of “Smuggler’s Blues” by Glenn Frey, as it does somehow resemble that song.
Chadwick Easton