Creating “music for the sake of music”, Roger Cole & Paul Barrere are the musicians and driving forces behind Better Daze Records. Wanting to avoid the guidelines set forth by big labels and distributors in the name of mainstream music, the two set out to create Better Daze Records. Through their own label, Barrere and Cole inject their own flavor of expression and creativity into each of their unique works. I liken this duo to a band of renegades who, for whatever reason, see fit to escape each previous recording situation to create a completely new creative one the next time around.
How or why they get to do this, is pretty much clear- they have their own record label! But moreover their continuous sound changes works in a substantial way and the vocals and music are more than a snug fit like pieces of a puzzle each time around – whether it’s flat our rock, blues or Americana-based roots music they’re doing.
Roger Cole and Paul Barrere’s songs have a tendency to embed themselves into self-serving memory for some reason. Perhaps it’s the artists; perhaps it’s the songs, perhaps it’s the harmonies, perhaps it’s the production. Then again, maybe, perhaps it’s everything. Even in the slower and more somber mid-tempo tunes, like this latest acoustic driven release, there is something that awakens you – leads you on to some type of discovery. Whether it be inner or outer discovery is your own choice. But realization of yourself and your world is a never ending process. Maybe we would all be better in a simpler, less complicated time. But, here we are. And we have no choice except to learn, evolve, believe – and “Just Keep Walking”.
With a trotting beat and pronounced ensemble singing. The message that life is for living is clear: “You Just Keep Walking that same old road / Follow your dreams now and you’ll never grow old / Find your reasons deep down inside / Shine your brightest, don’t you ever hide.”
The seemingly simple acoustic strumming carries with it the underlying motif of understanding by shifting your perspective: “Deep inside you hear a voice, so far away, yet so near / It’s telling you to make a choice.” Justifying inner decisions as opposed to whatever out there wants to decide for you. “Just Keep Walking” is amazing stream-of-consciousness acoustic-rock tune. And it is a call of a generation. It is also a song of moving forward.
We have all fallen into confusion sometime or other – but we need to get back up and assert ourselves, they seem to say. The ways of the world are sometimes wicked and cruel. But sometimes we ourselves create those ways. Roger Cole and Paul Barrere are consummate conveyors of enigmas within the soul – their own as well as those of others. Brilliant!
If you like wondrous harmonies, creative effort, and a classic acoustic-rock sound from a magical bygone age – this is definitely a treat and essential to any music collection. “Just Keep Walking” reminds me of a time when music was not meant to be background noise, or to be listened to while you read or studied, or walked between classes at the university.
It was a time when you put the record on your turntable and sprawled in a comfortable chair or sat on the floor and let the music take you completely away. Or maybe you got together with friends and sat around just listening to new releases like this, reading every word in the liner notes on the jacket. This is what I think we have lost. Thank you Roger Cole and Paul Barrere, for reminding me!
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