Rob Augustine - Say What You Want To

Hear The Track Here

Rob Augustine is a new name to me from Soundclick, although judging by the activity on his webpage he's been around a while. An Acoustic musician from Virginia USA, is about all the other information I can glean. As we know, the term acoustic can - and often does - hide a multitude of sins. Put it like this, I listen to a LOT of this stuff, and I find very little that is irresistible, or exciting even - for that matter. Acoustic music (at least the US variety) seems to fall between three different stools; acoustic rock, acoustic country (including folk) and Americana, a kinda/sorta blend of the two.

Which is why I treasure someone like Christopher Martin Hansen.

Now as you all know I am always up for a good whine, but when it's put to music I rapidly lose interest; approaching this track such was my state of mind. The first runthrough of the track blew away whatever cobwebs of misconception I was feebly erecting. It's energy and light demanded that I sit up and pay attention and like a good Pavlovian I responded automatically. The reason for this is because Rob Augustine is a guitarist in the manner of the aforementioned CMH, and has the added ability to sing extremely well and - judging by this example - can write a mean tune too.

Say What You Want To has everything I could want from a track; excellence of performance, production and songwriting. There isn't very much you can expect from (basically) one guy, his guitar and voice and there is certainly not a whole lot you can do to make it more palatable from a production angle. Rob obviously knows this because the clear, uncluttered mix compliments both his dexterous playing and his equally adept vocal cords. Put it like this, if I had to point someone to an above average example of what acoustic should be like, it would be this track. Definitely an artist I am going to have to look at a lot more closely.

Highly Recommended Acoustic alternative.