He’s not doing it to be retro or throwback. Logan Staats is proving, without making a point about it, that his generation can pick up the basic musical ingredients and cook up soul-satisfying dishes creating a tasty buffet of songs; in this case Staats’ first solo album Goodbye Goldia being released June 21st 2015.
He is part of a new wave of Six Nations talent including Lacey Hill, Jace Martin and The Ollivaders who are taking up the torch from their musical predecessors such as Murray Porter, Derek Miller, Mark Laforme and Faron Johns.
The ingredients Logan is working with are honest song writing, skilled musicianship and one killer voice. His lyrics are not unlike the stories spun by such greats as Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Buffy Sainte Marie.
Having performed as front-man with the band Ghost Town Orchestra and leading them to success winning Best Rock Album at the 2014 Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards, Staats’ decision to go it solo is timely for his career. Approaching this project with a pocket full of songs recorded with minimal production, these tracks take you on a journey of love, loss and honest personal experience, each one leaving you wanting more.
Simple Man is the most audio-biographical song, composed with a bittersweet sentiment about a man who “will make it one day” and a list of things he rejects to remain being the man he wants to be. The opener, Running Like a River starts out like a lazy sunny Saturday morning and crescendos to a vocal lightening storm asking the musical question “Can you feel it?” On “What You Love” we get the impression this is a cover of an old Delta Blues tune sped up and reinterpreted but rest assured, Logan’s tracks are ultra unique, promising to become the standard by which other artists, perhaps the next generation of artists are compared against.
Goodbye Goldia drops on Summer Solstice 2015 or as it has been celebrated for the past 20 years since 1995 as National Aboriginal Day. This artist, being solidly rooted in his indigenous identity has cleverly over-lapped his personal event with the national event and Goodbye Goldia can only improve upon the day.
Goodbye Goldia is available now on iTunes.
