Connor Garvey - Meteors and Beating Hearts (2013)

Connor Garvey is from Portland, Maine, and has been making music since an early age. It was part of his academic pursuit -- he majored in biology and minored in music recording. He took a job outside of music before a "life coach" told him that music was what he was best suited for. So he plunged into a career as an independent artist by taking an Amtrak train across the country and playing wherever he could. He has been developing a fan base since then through four self-released albums, including Where Ocean Meets Land in 2011, which we also featured on this review series. Now he is out with a new studio album, following a recent live recording. The studio album, called Meteors and Beating Hearts, is what we are dealing with today.

Lyrically, Garvey touches on a number of subjects, but most are love songs of one sort or another. He's not the kind of folkie to comment on the issues of the day, but he does wax philosophical on some of the songs and manages to avoid many lyrical cliches.

The album opens with a piece that sums up the upbeat, appealing, and tasteful sound of the album. Bright Morning is, as its title suggests, a song of optimism. An interesting twist is the seven beat meter of the song's verses.

A piece with somewhat unexpected lyrics is called Real Old, which is ostensibly a wish to be old, but it's more complicated than that. Musically it's another inviting track.

There are a number of songs on the album about jumping in and going after what life has to offer. Bite That Tastes Good puts it metaphorically, while the arrangement gets a bit funky with an added mandolin.

On Garvey's last album, he did a song called Pencil Frame using a house in disrepair as a metaphor. The new CD contains a song called Old House which also uses the theme of a domecile. It's one of the more contemplative-sounding tracks on this generally upbeat album.

Another song about taking advantage of life is Charlie about a guy absorbed perhaps too much in his career.

Garvey's generally sunny lyrical disposition is also highlighted on a song called Insignificance which tries to put the one's small place in the grand universe into a more upbeat context.

While most of the album has a contemporary sound, one track has a somewhat nostalgic, swingy sound, which continues the lyrical theme of the previous track. Spark is another of those songs that is hard not to like.

The most electric, rockiest track on the album is called Ride It Out. Despite another set of optimistic lyrics, the musical setting does not work as well, coming close at times to some pop cliches.

Connor Garvey's new release Meteors and Beating Hearts is another fine record by an independent singer-songwriter who I think should have much wider recognition. He's got a great voice, he writes appealing, often optimistic songs and the musicianship and the arrangements on the album are first-rate. It's quite tasteful and the kind of record that, as I commented about his last album, will likely sound just as good a decade or more from now as it does today.