Franz Nicolay is a multi-instrumentalist and composer from the deepest heart of New York. You may have heard of him from his previous work that he has done with such bands like The Hold Steady, World / Inferno Friendship Society, and Guignol. But more importantly, he has been releasing solo material since 2007 with such critically acclaimed albums such as Major General, Luck & Courage, and Do The Struggle.
Fast forward to 2015 – and Nicolay gives us his fourth solo offering in the shape of To Us, The Beautiful. The album was produced by Washington D.C. underground legend J. Robbins, who has also produced and engineered incredible albums for the likes of Paint It Black, Lemuria, Modern Life Is War, and more notably – Against Me!’s latest masterpiece Transgender Dysphoria Blues. The production on this album is incredible, and captures an intimacy and closeness to the albums recording which makes you feel as if Nicolay is actually singing and playing to you directly. Any producer knows this is quite the task to actually capture that overall feel, but Robbins must be given credit where it is due on To Us, The Beautiful.
Franz Nicolay is an artist whose musical diversity knows no bounds, and often rotates in sound on every album. With To Us, The Beautiful, there are a notable amount of influences that are present. On this album, Franz’s vocals are very reminiscent of Michael Stipe, Brian Fallon, Rodriguez, and even at times akin of punk poet John Cooper Clarke. Notably, Nicolay’s lyrics are a testament to his true creative genius, where dare we even say he has all the merits of being a true street poet representative of NYC.
However with all of this greatness in mind, why does To Us, The Beautiful just not hit the target as much as it could? Ironically enough, the main criticisms with this album lie due to the fact is is somewhat, well… boring at times!
Yes the musicianship is great, yes the lyricism is on point, but it all just seems so one dimensional. There does not seem to be anything that really stands out as truly memorable on this record. There are a couple of great tracks on here – more notably in the vein of the album’s title track, as well as the awesome ‘The Pilots Inside’. But even they do not save the album from its frustrating monotony. This could also be due to Nicolay’s repetitive vocal range, which is surprising as he has demonstrated he is more than capable of this on previous releases.
To Us, The Beautiful is a decent album by all means, and Nicolay’s lyricism and message should not be discredited. It’s just a shame that it falls short due to its playability factor, and monotony. Regardless, Franz Nicolay’s latest effort is most definitely worthy of your attention.
