EdTang &The Chops - Goodbye, Zen5, Sushi Dinner Review
rating: 3.5
Hailing from the famed home of Bruce Springsteen (Asbury Park, New Jersey), self-described "aggressive folk" band EdTang & The Chops have been turning heads in 2013 with their sophomore release, Goodbye, Zen5, Sushi Dinner. While that title may seem like one of the more esoteric album titles you've ever heard, it actually serves as a reference point to the overarching theme of the album: nostalgia and saying goodbye. EdTang handles such sweetly melancholic subjects with poetic ease, and the ghosts of other earnest New Jersey-bred songwriters such as Brian Fallon (The Gaslight Anthem) and the aforementioned Springsteen can be heard throughout these nine songs. The comparison to The Gaslight Anthem is one that you'll probably encounter often when reading reviews of EdTang & The Chops. Not only because of their shared statehood, but also because EdTang's voice is reminiscent of a vocally grittier Brian Fallon, which combined with the folk sound and just a touch of punk attitude, makes for a sound that could be described as The Gaslight Anthem by way of A.M.-era Wilco. The personal subject matter of the lyrics is another facet that will draw that inevitable comparison. EdTang's life experiences come into play heavily throughout Goodbye, Zen5, Sushi Dinner, especially on opening track "Vaya," which details a life-altering trip to South America he once took with a group of friends. It's an effective and upbeat opener, with a simple enough chord progression and an understated, accenting pedal steel guitar throughout. It's the story that EdTang weaves with his honest lyrics and passionate vocals that grabs your attention, however. The same can be said for most of the tracks present here. There's the mix of fast and slow songs, but all of them tend to feel a little similar when it comes to the drum patterns and guitar work. This would usually make for a tedious listen, but the well-crafted stories found within the lyrics provide more than enough to keep the listener engorsssed for the thirty-minute duration. A notable exception to the uniformity, however, would be third track "Lincoln" - which is a piano-and-walking-bass line driven tune with a memorable and catchy hook that brings to mind the Americana scene of the late 90s and early 00s. Another would be the loudest song to be found on the album "Beware of the Dog," which tells the tale of a man turned bitter, seemingly due to lost love. It's a blistering track until the very last verse, where the subject of the song seems to soften to the idea of falling for someone again ("And then you touched me, in a way that awoke me, Now maybe I'll find myself or lose myself, But something's bound to change"); something he swore off just a couple of verses ago. The music shifts dramatically to just a simple acoustic strum accented by a gentle piano in that moment, which echoes the drastic change felt within the lyrics. Before that moment, it's the closest that the band gets to straight up rock.