Key Tracks: “Out Of Time,” “Won’t Find The Answers”

I continue to get mountains of submissions for this blog even though I have mostly shifted focus to journeys through discographies and rankings, when I have time to pay it any attention at all. But every now and then, a pitch catches my eye. That’s exactly what happened when I was sent Burn, the debut album from rookie indie singer Liam Peroyea. While I never like to describe an artist based on unchangeable characteristics, it’s also what caught my attention – Peroyea is only 13 years old. And Burn sounds wise well beyond those years.

Burn is a quick album, ten tracks and 24 minutes, but it accomplishes a lot, especially as a showcase. The biggest songs here are ones that edge closely to rock songs. “Won’t Find the Answers” is the most full-fledged tune here, the only song with percussion. The penultimate track “Icarus” follows suit, marrying a wonderful vocal rhythm with a more full-band feel.

But many of these songs are not striving to be rock songs. The key to this album is sparseness. In both production and songwriting, the album’s other eight songs are all odes that have a lingering emptiness to them. Maybe the best example of this is “Out Of Time,” the first song with lyrics. It is a vocal-forward song, and Peroyea has some truly affective vocals throughout the album. It’s got guitar and some interesting rhythms, but there are fits of silence in between ideas that make for a particularly haunting listen. The same goes for “Castles,” maybe the best vocal track on the album, with Peroyea (who is, again, 13 years old) singing “You don’t know the meaning of love ‘til you lost it” over a nice piano rhythm. His vocals sound pained, like those of an older man who’s tasting his own medicine.

The album gets even sparser during the instrumental songs, too, and there are four of them. “Shattered” opens the album with a cool dual-guitar piece, with help from Callan Simpson. “Lost” and “Sojourn” are both acoustic instrumentals, the latter of which has some handclapping that offsets the tone of the scarcer tunes. And there’s an aptly-named interlude, “Interlude,” that is just lush piano.

The production on this album is even more disarming than the sparsely-constructed tunes. It may be the result of circumstance, but these songs sound like they’re being transmitted from a few rooms over. The recordings are fuzzy and dense, in a way that highlights the use of silence within the songs and the power of Peroyea’s voice. They’re reminiscent of early John Darnielle recordings, done alone over a boombox – with the power of making you feel like you know he’s recording alone. These songs do not sound like they were recorded in a studio, and that factor makes the album more mystical. This is loose, quiet music with a number of abrupt, varying ideas.

The combination of piano and guitar make for a well-rounded debut album here. There is a lot of great songwriting here, and no idea sticks around too long. Every year is overstuffed with indie these days, but you should carve out a half hour to spend with Burn, especially if you’re into the more heartfelt, raw folksy side of indie. Keep the fire lit!

You can stream the album here on Spotify:

~By Andrew McNally