Just what is Pop Music and who owns it? Well, the majority of music listeners will answer you that pop music is whatever style and genre that are most popular at a particular time, and that everything else is not pop music.
But, then, why are some grunge songs some of the most popular in recent decades? Why is Bob Dylan such a globally revered figure? And why have so many well-respected, talented songwriters contributed both underground and commercially palatable music?
Pop music can be anything as long as it is designed to garner a reaction from a large group of people. This is how John Garrison, a veteran of pop songwriting, approaches the recent 4-song EP, “Time Trader.”
This is alternative music written from the perspective of someone with experience writing the kinds of songs that great groups of people can feel an attachment to. This is, by its very nature, the elusive alt pop that so many modern stars like to talk about.
And why can’t pop music still have a spiritual edge? Didn’t it all originate out of singing in Church? Well, if that’s true, the record’s opener, “A Walk With God” dares to dream of a new type of gospel music.
Just listen to the second track, the meditative, mournful “The Time Is Now,” with its moody one-note fills hanging off the crunchy bass synths. Here’s a songwriter contending with the very nature of reality. But, also, Garrison has enough respect for his audience to treat them to the big chorus that they’ve come to expect.
With such questions weighing on the author’s mind, it’s only natural that hope becomes something of a luxury. The potential loss of it is described on “What Does It Matter?” a track that features a spoken, rap-like delivery that brings to mind 80s hip-hop.
Finally, the EP closes with a promise. The piano lead slow burner, “Clear,” allows John Garrison to let those concerned know that backing away from his chosen direction is simply not an option worth considering.
“Time Trader” is an ambitious pop record, one where Garrison, a professional songwriter who has worked with well-known artists, allows himself to introduce leftfield musical ideas and spiritual beliefs within the confines of commercial, ear-pleasing music.
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