Burr has the songwriting chops to back up his genre-hopping
author: Core Weekly Magazine
There's something refreshing about singer-songwriters who adapt the free-form, anything-goes spirit of jam music. Burr Settles is one of those lucky folkies who, in the spirit of artists like Keller Williams, Jack Johnson or even early Beck, has granted himself the liberty to play whatever style he wants, whenever he wants. On his self-released CD, Sketches, Settles effortlessly jumps from traditional bluegrass and folk to playfully minimal hip-hop and funk without abandon. He has the songwriting chops to back up this genre hopping, too; his gentle folk songs, in particular, are sincerely touching.
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Settles sings about love, uncertainty, disappointment and dreams over catchy, em
author: The Madison Observer
Songwriting and lyric writing are two very different things, and one without the other is a recipe for failure. Luckily, "Sketches," the debut album [from] globetrotting folkie Burr Settles, has both elements in abundance. While the lyrics are consistently impressive throughout the album, the songs work as pieces of music as well. With a voice somewhere between the angelic highs of Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service) and the demonic dreariness of David Bazan (Pedro the Lion), Settles sings about love, uncertainty, disappointment and dreams over catchy, emotive acoustic guitar work. Song highlights include "Slingshot," a dark coming-of-age story... "Sugar in the Raw," a surprisingly funky track, mixing folk, funk and hip hop, and "Heaven Only Knows," which begins with the lines, "I stretch my hand out to the radio and switch it to A.M. / I can't stand to hear your NOFX time and time again."
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