Description
Israel Nash is a bit of a throwback to earlier times, and his new album Topaz is an example of virtually everything that is good about music. Nash recorded the album over the course of about a year in the Quonset hut studio he built about 600 feet from his house in the Texas Hill Country. The project is full of fat horns, gospel choruses, swagger, hope, and pain. The meaty rock foundation with touches of psychedelia and skylark folk that fans have come to love are still here, now with a soulful heft that nods to Muscle Shoals and Memphis, which in one sense, makes it a bit more tangible than his previous work. Yet it remains moody and vast, cohesive and compelling.
One of the true mysteries of Topaz is how country and soul blend so successfully. The organ that frames ‘Canyonheart’ establishes a vibe that combines the two.
Melding musical styles with a world in turmoil, Israel Nash charts a course that offers lessons we can learn from. The music on Topaz comes with a message. It’s up to us to change the world. Things won’t change unless we make them. In this day and age that has never been more important.
