It’s True

Links: Myspace

It’s True — there there, now … / i think it’s best … (if i leave) (Slo-Fi Records)

There is no doubt, as vocalist/guitarist Adam Hawkins — the brains behind Omaha outfit It’s True — has made public, that a discernable rift in the songwriting styles of his debut double-EP exists. The pacifying letdown of the first six tracks indicates a clean, if inevitable, break. Soaring “ooh’s” and well-placed “ba-ba-dop” poignancy add to the soft acknowledgment that “It’s coming down.” Plucked patterns and Hawkins’ delicate range showcase a bewildered ‘what-comes-next’ vulnerability that culminates in the murky suspense of instrumental “Now, Wait Just One Minute.” Perhaps a point of reflection, a chance to clear his throat, the instrumental segues not into relief but the dire end. Not even the gentle plea of “Honestly” can sway fate. On one hand, if these songs were any more DIY, they’d have been recorded on a dictaphone. On the other, laptop and labcoat experimentation birth the gorgeous resolve of the second instrumental movement, “Take This One From Me.” With knot now firmly in throat, Hawkins indicates a point of no return. It has happened; the “line has been drawn.” The remaining songs are played out in sad and predictable sequence, and in the title track, we witness a fragile man fallen into disrepair, trying desperately to keep it together while the lonely sets in on that long walk to the door. The concluding solace is left where he might’ve begun, at the bottom of a bottle with an old fashioned booze-soaked gem, trying on a pickup line and tying on a wine drunk. A formidable entrance from an undeniable local talent. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

— Brady Vredenburg (The Reader- Omaha, NE)