Musicians and the driving forces behind Better Daze Records, Paul Barrere & Roger Cole, over the last year, have no doubt become one of my favorite rock music duos. Their music always touches my ‘nostalgic nerve’ in one way or another. At times it may be a vocal verse at others a guitar solo or just simply a lyrical line. By this time it’s pretty clear we share similar music influences, because the sounds they deliver are the very same that my ears are simply waiting to devour.
Fact number two is that my love for the electric guitar is undying, and over the years I have accumulated a solid list of guitar heroes who inspire and delight me for various reasons. Each of these players has specific qualities that make them unique and absolutely brilliant. I won’t name them all, as not to open the usual ridiculous, ‘who’s the greatest guitarist of all time’ type debate. No, I’ll get straight to the point.
All things considered, technically and emotionally, song by song, note for note, If I was forced into a corner, I would always fall back on David Gilmour as my all-round, all-time favorite guitarist. The one distinctive factor that makes me choose one player over another, are the notes they do NOT play. In this respect no other guitarist even comes close in discarding superfluous notes the way Sir David does!
I wasted this entire preamble to simply tell you that I love David Gilmour, Pink Floyd and anything that vaguely resembles them! So if you sum my love for Gilmour and Floyd with that for Barrere & Cole’s guitar-based music, the total is awesome!
Which brings me to “BREATHE”. The latest release by Paul Barrere & Roger Cole. This track has the ghosts of the whole Pink Floyd musical experience flowing through it. In many places it has a similar atmospheric magnificence to Floyd’s music from the 70s, bookended by `Atom Heart Mother’ and `Wish You were Here,’ prior to Roger Waters taking control of the band with his lyrically verbose and preachy approach.
On “BREATHE”, Cole and Barrere’s wailing guitars weave around the searching, melodious vocal phrases underpinned by stately, energetic drumming with never a note out of place. From its opening acoustic strains to its final note, the song is both as poignant and dazzling as they come.
And don’t get me wrong, this is not a remake or copy of Floyd’s “Breathe” from their “Dark Side Of The Moon” album. No, this is not even close. Paul Barrere & Roger Cole’s “BREATHE” is a completely different beast, only with a very similar soul!
Uncannily, this recording has the true experimental and psychedelic sound that started the Floyd era. What an authentically beautiful production this is in 2015. Barren of today’s glossy studio gimmicks…and dear Lord, I think I can actually hear real drums in the track!
All I can do is say thank you to Paul Barrere & Roger Cole for this musical reawakening, smile, and keep listening…
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