I don’t remember the last time a first listen gave me such drastic mood swings. Michael Rault‘s new record had me totally digging it one minute and actively hating it another. I haven’t been able to pin down exactly what it is that’s causing this. I can say that multiple listens help. Some songs are really catchy, while others have little to no appeal for me.

I like his songwriting, the way he sings, most of the music is great. I think there are parts that are overproduced, and that is where I tune out and get bored with Living Daylight .

Songs like “I Wanna Love You” that are more straight up rock n roll like Queen or the more R&B-influenced Springsteen tracks sound fantastic. If the whole album were like that, i would probably love it. Then there’s stuff like “Lost Something,” that I’d love to hear in a demo version. Without the sitar sound and affected vocals it might be a cool song. I wonder if it’s more stripped down in a live setting.

Michael is playing at Beat Kitchen later this week (the 24th of July) with Happyness, and I kinda want to check it out just to hear the songs in a more minimal state. I feel like the bones are there on all the tracks, they just embellished them a bit too much.