17 Nov 2024
UsernamePassword

Remember Me? | Join | Recover
Click here to sign in via social networking

Tony Lee - Single Review: Closer

08 Dec 2021 // A review by Peter-James Dries

Here is yet another track that takes me back to the early-90;s. The days of our family following Vince Leatherby, the Happy Wanderer, around the Kiwi country music circuit.

Only, they didn’t sound like this back then.

Tony Lee’s new single Closer takes the classic country rock, strips it to the bare bones, and slows it down. The result is as bittersweet and melancholic as the lyrics, which a lot of country music secretly is beneath the veneer of a wailing pedal steel guitar.

This ballad is a quiet cry for help and calm, relevant in these, the dying days of extended lockdowns. It is a far cry from the trucking tales of ageing crooners in those halcyon days in Oakura.

There are a few clever moments, where the music and lyrics flirt with each other, no doubt misinterpretations and over-thoughts on my part. The spiraling scales in the chorus reflecting spiraling thoughts in a troubled mind. The note ringing out after the line “There is ringing in my head.” The song fading away on the line “Until it goes away.” It’s an obscure example of diegesis - the music being part of the narration – and a nice change in a world where music and lyrics are different entities.

Relatable lyrics, inoffensive music, enjoyable by young and old. 5 stars of 5.

You can find Tony Lee on Spotify. You can find the video for Closer on YouTube.

Rating: ( 5 / 5 )
 

About Tony Lee

Tony Lee is a Alternative Country Rock artist from Hamilton. He has released 2 albums under his own name and is currently working on a third.

Tony Lee's debut solo album was Road Less Travelled. The album received high accolades in the press with critics loving Tony's 'wear your heart on your sleeve' approach to songwriting.

His music video for All That A Man Can Do has been internationally recognised, making the semi finals in the ISC (International Songwriting Competition) and getting nominated in the music video category at the Limelight Film awards in London. The video was produced by Neil Whitman who had made video's for Chris Rea and Robbie Williams.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Tony Lee

Releases

Man On Mars
Year: 2022
Type: Album

Other Reviews By Peter-James Dries

Ra Charmian - Album Review: Waiata Wairua
08 Oct 2024 // by Peter-James Dries
Waiata Wairua is an album that wouldn’t feel out of place performed in a late night jazz hall in some alternate history where the successes of the Maori battalion lead to a proliferation of Te Reo worldwide. The sort of interest that saw your dad singing in French in the 60's, when Mireille Mathieu was knocking about.
Read More...
Ben Lloyd - Album Review: Leap of Faith
26 May 2024 // by Peter-James Dries
For over 30 years, this self-taught rocker from Mt Maunganui has been writing music. Now, for the first time since 2013, we finally get to hear his songs.
Read More...
Yann Le Dorré - Album Review: The Circus is Closed
19 Dec 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
“We are Sex Bob-Omb and we're here to make you think about death and get sad and stuff!” - Scott Pilgrim vs.
Read More...
Sanoi - Album Review: Echoes Of Home
25 Nov 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
Electronica offers no escapism for me. It’s more of what I already have.
Read More...
Throng - EP Review: Decoherence
20 Oct 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
You know that thing where the letter B has a personality, or words have textures and colours? That’s called synaesthesia.
Read More...
Fortress Europe - Album Review: Old World
10 Oct 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
Have you ever been torn between listening to Mozart or Periphery? Does Epica have too much of that darn singing for your tastes?
Read More...
Yurt Party - Album Review: Yurt Party
07 Sep 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
It sure isn't summer, and this is really not the Balkans, but Yurt Party’s new self-titled album refutes that. Back with another one of them Balkan rocking beats, Yurt Party’s debut is jazzy, erratic, and full of zest and energetic grooves, with flavour notes of ska, dub, and bergamot.
Read More...
day13n - Album Review: /7/13/7/
06 Aug 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
I’m too old for this world. We’ve devolved to the point where music is only as good as the soundtrack to your 10 second TikTok, and the thirty thousand copies recycling the idea.
Read More...
View All Articles By Peter-James Dries

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • APT.
    ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
  • DIE WITH A SMILE
    Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
  • BIRDS OF A FEATHER
    Billie Eilish
  • TASTE
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
    Gracie Abrams
  • ESPRESSO
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • SAILOR SONG
    Gigi Perez
  • LOSE CONTROL
    Teddy Swims
  • A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
    Shaboozey
  • GOOD LUCK, BABE!
    Chappell Roan
View the Full NZ Top 40...
muzic.net.nz Logo
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report a ProblemReport A Problem