Alex Lynch’s “Thanks For Those Times” combines post-grunge and sensitive grumblings [Acoustic Folk]

Alex Lynch’s new song “Thanks For Those Times” goes for a basic composition of just the acoustic guitar, harmonica, light percussion, and his voice. Although Lynch labels his project as indie rock and folk, his voice doesn’t really dictate those genres. Rather, he leans towards something between the scraping vocals of post-grunge and sensitive grumblings of emo. His voice brings a different flavor than what the music calls for, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t working.

There are a few improvements that could be made to this song. Although Lynch can play the harmonica cleanly without hitting stray notes, it doesn’t seem like much thought went into its addition into the song. His inhaling and exhaling just moves up the scale without adding the “lead” effect that the harmonica should have. I’d like to hear an actual melody in the harmonica if it’s being singled out.

The song as a whole feels lacking in flavor. Alex knows how to sing, but the way he accents his voice (pronouncing “I” like “Ih-yeee”) and forces the back-of-throat growl is an old gimmick that ran its course years ago. His songwriting as a whole is fine, but I think he forces his voice to be unnatural. If he just concentrates on singing the song rather than how he’s singing it stylistically, we would get something much improved out of his next tunes.

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Bio:

Alex Lynch (a.k.a. Allusions of Lynch) is a solo acoustic / indie rock / folk / electronic project created by Alex Lynch, a Russian singer-songwriter (known for such rock/metal bands as 7 Dot Dice, One Glimpse Away, and Stemfade).

Appeared in 2003, it immediately attracted much attention from many fans of acoustic rock music. So far, Alex has released 6 studio LPs and EPs (“The Go” LP 2009, “Green” EP 2009, “Bloom Again” LP 2011, “Symbols” LP 2012, “Re-covered pt.1” cover song LP 2014 and “Music-Hearted” EP 2014), 2 official music videos (“Flave” 2011, “Whatever” 2012), and had several tours around Russia and Europe. One of his videos “Flave” took part in the International Songwriting Competition 2012 and a lot of his music tracks have been used in numerous commercials, music/video projects, etc. all over the world. He is mostly influenced by City and Colour, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Team Sleep, Deftones and Staind. His performances sometimes include using harmonicas and a tambourine which makes his music distinctive and well-recognized, and his live shows are famous for their home-like feel and warm atmosphere. Currently, Alex is working on his 7th studio album which is due to be out September 2014.

Websites:

www.soundcloud.com/alexlynch/
www.facebook.com/allusionsoflynch
www.allusionsoflynch.com
https://twitter.com/alexlynchftw