Tuesday, May 21, 2013
By KRISTIN DiCARA-McCLELLAN
Kouros, aka Stefan Pierce Henegar, classifies his music on Bandcamp.com as "alternative/acoustic/pop/punk/folk/rock." This is a solo act -- just Henegar, his acoustic guitar and his own recording and engineering ability.
HOW IT RATES
KOUROS -- "ECHOES OFF THE ICE"
**1/2
Based on a four-star scale
Some of the songs off his new CD, "Echoes Off the Ice," start off as a laid-back folky groove on the guitar, with lush and squishy vocals. At some point he dives in, giving that guitar a good pounding and unleashing an emotional roar that lasts for a while until he has given it his all and purged his demons.
Some songs stay very mellow, even floaty-feeling, and in that, I could feel the alternative place he was coming from.
The songs are all over the place in terms of length: The first was more than eight minutes long (a bit of a grind for an opening track); another was only 50 seconds long (a cover of an excerpt from the Marx Brothers film "Duck Soup.")
There were many times when I imagined Henagar at the center of a full band, with some screaming electric guitars in spots and even with a string section. But his overcompensation with the dripping, echoing reverb on his voice takes away from his authenticity as a songwriter.
Maybe he could have spent more time developing the songs, adding some different instruments into the mix and learning a bit more about himself and recording to get the best result of who he is as a musician.
I, for one, would certainly like to hear what he has in store in the future, because the enjoyment and fervor he has for the music shines through. Any artist worth his weight in gold will grow and stretch and reach for what is possible for them, and the possibilities are endless for a heart like that.
Kristin DiCara-McClellan is a local freelance writer. She can be reached at:
kjoydmac@yahoo.com
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