2015 was a year filled with great music, but as is often the case there are those records that get away from you. Unexcusably one of those records for me was Rayland Baxter’s ‘Imaginary Man’. To my own detriment I missed out on this wonderful record when it first released back in the summer. Seeing it pop up on a host of friend’s and writer’s best of lists I had to give it the proper due it deserves…

One word is the strong thread that runs through the structure of Rayland’s music: happy. The singer-songwriter’s voice and essence explodes with this feeling of ‘good’, pure and wonderful joy in this way that even when the context of a song may be downtrodden or heartrending I still feel happy hearing him expose his feelings and emotions. It is truly a beautiful thing.

Like the songwriter’s more cleaned up look on the cover of the record, the general vibe and arrangements contained within follow suit. There is a produced polish to the tracks contained within that Baxter’s prior releases may not have capitalized on fully…where the ‘Ashkelon’ EP was rooted in raw, gritty and organic sounds and ‘Feathers and Fishhooks’ was certainly a bit fuller, but not quite as refined as ‘Imaginary Man’ finds the artist. The glue that holds each of these works together, and on the constant rotation list in my record collection, is that voice. Strong, but emotion driven with hints of the songwriter’s vulnerability, which is then rounded out by his confidence as a writer. That balance and pull, that confliction of being exposed but being comfortable with that fact is what really makes his voice one that cannot be ignored.

‘Mr. Rodriguez’ kicks the record off. Dabbled with plucked electric notes, spinning uplifting organ and a walked out drum beat that follows the first line of the song about walking around. The tune also contains one of my favorite lines of the album “a king from a jester and a queen from a slave”. ‘Oh My Captain’ has droning electric guitar vibes reminiscent of blue tones and heaviness, before Baxter sings out the chorus, balance. I suppose that balance is what he does so damn well. His songs flow and evoke a variety of emotions rather than just one. Color…color as well. ‘Yellow Eyes’ evokes Santana in the electric guitar lines that dot the song’s arrangement. A golden feeling pouring into my head, sun shining. Man, that is a special thing to be able to do. I tell you.

Rayland has a vibrant and lucid way in which he paints the characters of his stories. Using his rambling tenor as the bristle and melody and verse as the color for his songs, he maintains the realness of his previous works while making a slight move into what may be classified as a bit more mainstream on ‘Imaginary Man’.

Rayland will be back in town on Saturday February 6th at the Brighton Music Hall, which just shows that the popularity of this songwriter is growing all across the country. Get your tickets here: http://www1.ticketmaster.com/event/01004F6D2D2F8BE6