Eric Nicolau‘s new album “Won’t You Stay” is a great piece of solo music. He peacefully puts together his instruments in a Dashboard Confessional sort of way. Granted, he isn’t quite Chris Carabba yet, but he is well on his way.
“How We Grow Old” is the first song off this album and it is a great sing-a-long. It is a strictly acoustic song with some supporting instruments. It is one of those songs everybody waves back and forth to at shows. The title track, “Won’t You Stay,” is a song with a nice melody. The lyrics are extremely honest and relatable. Due to this, this is also going to be a popular song at shows.
“Danny Wait” is a nice track that is also the shortest on the album. This is the epitome of an acoustic song. Short, sweet, and to the point. It tells a great story, and is a great song to listen to. Brings back good memories of personal acoustic sets back in my high school days. “Get Down” is the farthest thing from “Danny Wait.” Rather than have a touching acoustic song, “Get Down” is a chill pop song with a heavy bass sound. Its a great song to drive along the beach to. There is no shortage in song-writing in these songs. Eric does a great job adding solid lyrics to his songs.
“Say” has a very nice feel to it. The intro gives you somewhat of a southern feel. Once the lyrics kick in, though, we have a great pop song in the making. The single makes me want to go and just sing my heart out. It could be the catchy lyrics or the awesome southern swag he adds between verses.
“Take It Easy My Brother Charles” has a very reggae and carribean feel to it. There are bongos and horns, along with foreign languages. This is a strange addition to the album. It comes as a surprise, a pleasant one at that. This song truly shows that you can write an entire album of girly pop songs with just an acoustic guitar and your voice, but still make killer music once you add other instruments in it. This song gave me a lot of respect for Eric Nicolau because he went ahead and did something different.
Eric Nicolau releases a great album in Won’t You Stay. It has its ups and its down, and even its
surprises. All in all, this guy is going to be the next Dashboard Confessional in the scene. He knows how to put together a great song with just him and his guitar. I recommend everyone checks him out because he really has something to offer
Fore more information on Eric Nicolau check out his official website, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter pages.