Don't let that young, smiling face fool you. This is not some annoying Spotify-cultivated upstart. Liam Kazar has a genuine ear for a winning hook, and a natural facility for studio perfection. His debut, Due North, drops on Friday via Woodsist, and it's one of this week's most enjoyable records.
Opener "So Long Tomorrow" and the funkier "Old Enough For You" suggest both mid-Seventies Lennon and Todd Rundgren. Liam Kazar wisely plays this straight, despite an easygoing sense of fun in these grooves, such that none of this feels too casual. I appreciate that very much. Elsewhere, "Nothing To You" made me think of bands like Younghusband and Gardens & Villa, while "Frank Bacon" recalled Nilsson a bit for me.
Kazar imbues his compositions with the kind of spark that artists like Ben Folds and Bleu brought to their brands of indie-pop earlier, but under the guidance of Kevin Morby (The Babies) and James Elkington, and with backing vocals from Ohmme, he's confident in his approach. A listener cannot fault a single artistic choice here, and I started to love Due North more than I expected to. Closer "Something Tender" certainly has some similarities to Kevin Morby's own solo recordings, but Kazar's utterly sincere croon here is the thing that elevates this one, and others here to a special place.
Due North is out on Friday via Woodsist.
[Photo: Kevin Morby]