Ohio native Aaron Lee Tasjan has spent much of the past two years on tour, and rather than coming across as road worn and frayed, his new album finds the singer and band hitting a remarkably solid stride. As impressive as 2016’s debut Silver Tears was, Karma For Cheap comes off like a career best, performed by seasoned vets.
From the opening riff of “If Not Now When,” boasting Tasjan’s brilliantly creative vocal delivery up to the steady, deceptively simple closer “Songbird,” he flawlessly slips in and out of genres: rock, jangle pop, even hints of glam throughout. Tracks like “Dream Dreamer” and “Strange Shadows” with the near-falsetto vocals, seem to be channeling Roy Orbison, while elsewhere you can hear more of his unconventional, but deeply satisfying, delivery like on the perfect pop nugget, “The Rest is Yet to Come.” Tasjan’s influences, likely anchored on The Beatles, are impressively diverse, covering Brit Pop to classic ‘80s American college rock (think of everyone from R.E.M. and the Smithereens to Paul Westerberg and The Replacements in their most-focused and sober moments).
Between the deaths of Bowie, Petty, and Prince over the past few years, there seem to be a pretty shallow bench of up-and-coming rock music saviors. But, judging from Karma for Cheap, we might just be ok for now.
