Search - Michael Zapruder :: This Is a Beautiful Town

Beautiful and delicate

North Idaho Dad | 03/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Beautiful melodies and delicate arrangements from singer Michael Zapruder. This is the kind of simple and straight-forward songwriting that is sorely missing from the Top 40 music charts.If you enjoy artists such as Chris Rice, Beck, Ron Sexsmith and Neil Finn, then check out Michael Zapruder."

This is a beautiful album.

J. Rhinewine | Portland, OR USA | 03/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Michael Zapruder made his name by crafting a song a week for all of 1999, creating what is now an epic triple CD, 52songs. Several of these appeared in a fine EP, Lomograph.This Is A Beautiful Town far surpasses Zapruder's previous material. Here is an album of a songsmith who has honed his craft, fasted in spirit, burned a stick of incense to the Muses, left ego behind, and gotten down to the serious work of writing and producing an album with depth, beauty, and soul.Prior reviews (including the Performing Songwriter and the Washington Post) have been uniformly positive to raving, with the sole criticism that the album is consistently moderate-tempo, with only two subdued rockers. To me, this criticism misses the point. This album has the quality that so many nowadays lack, that of internal continuity. This is a Beautiful Town saturates you in a wistful, sad but hopeful, loving, and above all, intelligent presence from beginning to end. It does not "break character" and say, "oh, I was just kidding, I'm just as cynical, pessimistic and ironic as everyone else creating art and music these days." Zapruder avoids all that negativity and sterile solopsism, without falling prey to sentimentality. This integrity is increasingly rare in popular music.The music is dominated by piano, simple but subtle electric and acoustic guitars, and Zapruder's unique, plain and intimate voice. Its aesthetic sometimes recalls Joni Mitchell, sometimes the Eagles, sometimes the Byrds, and doubtless many other influences, though Zapruder maintains his own distinctive style. Each listener will doubtless read into this music their own musical obsessions. My own favorite tracks are That is What I Want, a song about the delicious pleasures of ambivalence and indolence, and the title song, a haiku-clear description, perhaps of San Francisco. Throughout we find the theme of disappointment, its survivability, the traditional artist's praise of beauty, and the release that comes of accepting this ambiguous existence as it is.If you want another record that plays to our needs for driving rhythms and--however carefully disguised--adolescent anger and angst, don't get this one.If you want a record of true beauty, an honest but complex offering of love, rooted in the best aesthetic judgment, a spiritual act of songwriting, then buy This is a Beautiful Town with confidence. Finn Agen, 2004"