Dustin Kensrue - Please Come Home
Song Name: I Knew You Before
Artist: Dustin Kensrue
Album: Please Come Home
Why This Song?:
Most will know Dustin more for his screaming than his singing. Others will be even more shocked that Dustin went from working on a band like Thrice to a solo project that sounds closer to Nashville than the mosh pit.
For many fans of Thrice, it doesn’t really matter what type of music Dustin makes. All that matters is that he is an extremely talented musician. It’s nice for a fan base to recognize that it’s not always about sticking to a genre, to a specific sound, or what they think a band should sound like. Most fan bases throw some serious temper tantrums in the face of such musicial exploration, but most fans of Thrice that I know are just very impressed at the many facets of Mr. Kensrue. The backlash is almost non-existent and the addition of different sounds into Thrice’s current reprotoire seem to be more welcomed than pushed aside.
Dustin’s short, but excellent and inspiring solo album, is a complete departure from anything he had previously done before. A clash of country, folk, and soft rock fill the short playing time with an unexpectedly light and refreshing sound. Granted, some times the lyrics are extremely heavy handed and a bit too gospel for my taste, it is still something that is worthy of respect.
This isn’t your empty, run of the mill, country record. Dustin takes his time to talk about matters that are important to him - spirituality, loss of innocence, depression, and redemption. Though you can tell many songs are inspired by other artists (”Blood & Wine” sounds like it could be straight out of Johnny Cash’s collection), none seem to be cookie-cutter knock offs and each hold their own against those that helped shape his style.
“I Knew You Before” and its poignant, well-written tale of lost focus, friendship, and purity, is without a doubt my favorite track on the album. Its scatching animonsity towards everything that our generation holds so dear (MTV, magazines, media) would seem more likely written by someone twenty years older. It’s truly admirable, though, to see a younger musician not give in to the cliché, society-molded mindset of most artists his age. These aren’t just empty words though, he demonstrates his belief in them in everything he does - from his willingness to take chances that assuredly make record labels cringe to his lyrics that have far more depth than almost anything being released, let alone bought today.
Dustin is definitely one of the best, most ambitious young talents in the industry. His willingness to take chances has yielded unexpected, yet interesting results on every project he has worked on. I highly recommend that any fan of music check out anything and everything that Dustin has his hands on.
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After giving the preview a listen, I might just grab a copy. I’m liking the previews.
Colin Devroe on January 25th, 2008 10:54 am