Jeff Root comes up with an album of engaging, interesting, and fun rock and roll music almost yearly. The Pig In The Python CD is another offering from his fertile imagination. Root, from the Central Massachusetts area, has a sound unlike anyone else in the local music scene. His smooth, unique vocal timbre rides over his melody line with a self-restrained energy unlike anything heard before. His song ideas are over the top wholly original, never following the usual songwriting patterns. The Pig In The Python is a dynamite album due to Roots’ ability to remain wholly original. The man seems genetically incapable of following in the footsteps of others. And that’s a good thing.
Root breezes right in with opening track “The Heart Of You,” an unusually appealing song, with acoustic guitar accentuating the rhythmic twists and turns, punctuating them with charming persistence. As Root doesn’t write like anybody else, it‘s hard to predict where this song is going. His vocal glides over the peaks and valleys with a majestic ease that pulls the listener along.
Title track “The Pig In The Python” grooves along with that hip unpredictably, but when Root gets to certain places in the song, it all makes sense when we see what’s he’s done. He has his son Zack Roots playing low end notes that are at once knobby and smooth. Root, here, offers everything from rap to edgy guitar eruptions to playful intervals of keyboard to his own engagingly smooth vocal, perfectly adorning his groove.
“Are You Still Out There?’ was written for Root’s father and it shows he has a very warm, upbeat connection to his dad. This song moves with a bounce in its step, making the listener smile while tapping his toes to those peppy, almost floating rhythms he puts underneath everything here.
Roots describes his ideal partner in “Someone To Share A Private Joke With,” a description that you’re unlikely to see on any dating site. The artist lays out his quirky lyrics with a persistent willfulness to keep his ideal mate interesting. It’s a treat to hear his kind of timbre over a slow build up in his groove. Listeners can actually feel this movement bringing them somewhere. Root also has a touch of eerie in his guitar and keyboard melodies. There’s a bittersweet, comic tragedy feel in his higher notes that keep the listener wondering if all is going well in his search. Amazingly, he keeps the ears glued with his hip sounds and unique artistic vision.
“The Best Present Ever” is a light, airy number that finds each instrument being gently played. Root’s quirky, mellifluous voice has its mysterious pull. You cannot help but wonder where he’s going to take the listener with his unusual articulation of his unusual songwriting pattern.
Getting back to edgy music, “Frank Finis” emerges from a mesh of grueling guitar and bracing synthesized violin. Root has things marching forward with an authoritative stomp. Over his mesh of instrumentation, Root sings out a horror story that sounds based on Universal monster movie storylines. He succeeds, once again, at creating a peculiar and interesting story backed by music that’s different and gripping.
“Pentatonic Mozart” is Root’s quirky, beautiful, moving tribute to Ray Davies and the time in his life he discovered The Kinks and the new sound that unusual band offered. Root throws in a few riffs from “You’ve Really Got Me” to emphasize his enthusiastic response. Root sings warmly while playing a sweet organ melody that puts across all the joy he’s received from that band. This one is just a delight to listen to, especially when he borrows that timeless riff.
“If Death Were A Temptress” isn’t just an unusual song title. Root actually contemplates death as a metaphor for the things in life and in the universe that could kill us, no matter how fascinating they are. It moves forward with a murky, bumpy low end and an pop rock guitar riff. Put Root’s smooth, flowing, quirky voice, articulating his odd visions, and we have a winsome little piece of art.
Root goes for the pop-rock quirk even more with “Cupid’s Tongue.” His lilting vocal melody, playfully tap dancing over sweet piano notes, tickles the ears and takes them along for a pleasant ride. This is definitely an artist that makes you wonder what would’ve happened if he had been in the right place at the right time. There are some new twists in this seemingly simple pop ditty that could’ve revolutionized the music we hear every day on the radio.
Going up-tempo for “My Compelling Reality,” Root makes the song climb ever higher into one’s consciousness with its energized lift. There’s so much motion and purposeful stride to this number that you feel compelled to follow it. Along the way, the listener gets a rocking piano line, combustive guitar phrasing, and the Root personality and character voice to make it even more lively.
“The Sex Apprentice” plays upon exotic foreign tones, giving it a faux middle eastern electric guitar melody and keyboard notes that sub for sitars. It all makes for a colorful, intriguing backdrop to a tale of sexual intrigue in foreign lands. Lyrical images put the apprentice into all sorts of sensual rendezvous. Root’s unique vocal timbre is particularly well-suited to this suggestive ditty.
“The Tenacious Future” finds Root telling people to learn how to swim or sink like a stone. His muscular guitar rhythm is a solid backbone for this cautionary tale about where our present day society is heading. More assertive here, Root lays down a compelling case to get ready for what’s to come, and he does it with solid musical authority.
Root closes out his album with “Psychotic Romance,” a tale of dating someone who is dangerous and out of touch with reality. A modern day worry for many, Root, tastefully, makes light of the kind of person who can’t get someone out of his head, no matter how abusive that person is. He sets up some clever contrasts that makes his song compelling. His rhythm guitar soothes while his subject matter disturbs. His sprightly piano melody contrasts with the basic drive of the rhythm section. It’s pop-rock madness as maybe Frank Zappa or Warren Zevon would’ve imagined.
Jeff Root is definitely a local artist who should be an international artist. He keeps his music fresh without even trying because he views differently from others certain subject matters while traveling unique songwriting paths. That he can come up with such material every year offers another clue to his over the top abilities. If the best music is local, then Jeff Root is one of the best, and he proves it again with this latest release The Pig In They Python.
