Play 90 second soundbite of 'Australia' @ 'CD quality'
This album contains seven charmingly balladic-biased original pop/rock songs that have been spawned and grown from Esposito's belief that music should be 'organic' rather than pre-conceived, plus one strange, no, unique cover in 'Happy Days'.
Here Esposito shows a decent enough range of jangly, at times Beatle-esque, songs that err on the naive, almost informal, side of pop/rock. His vision of allowing songs to develop in "their own way" works to a point but often leaves the pieces sounding a little rough edged and therefore slightly 'sharp' on the ear. Esposito shows a strong and natural ability to pen good tunes although his lyrics can tend to be somewhat naive somehow. Vocally, Esposito has an interesting, if not massively strong, voice although he does suit the generally lo-fi production evident here.
The oxymoronic Hesitant Ballad has succeeded in putting together an album that verges on "a kaleidoscopic game" and the end result is one that shows that Esposito cares about his music and is trying very hard to shape his songs with an interesting freedom of expression. What the album lacks in diverse dynamics it makes up for in Esposito's belief and conviction in his cause. And, although a very interesting project I can't help but feel that much of this would still benefit from being taken to the next level dynamically and production-wise. That said, Hesitant Ballad is an interesting and absorbing project and it'll be cool to see how Stefano Esposito moves forward with it.
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