Greg Barnett – Singles

Greg Barnett – Singles Review

It’s always a pleasure to listen to an artist with a sincere point of view.  Greg Barnett’s making music not just for himself, but for the world really…hoping to create some much needed awareness at a critical time in human history that many have come to regard as the tipping point for a plethora of heinous reasons.  Over the course of a bunch of singles I’ve stumbled onto here in review, we’ll talk about some of the theories behind what he’s writing about…maybe a couple of guesses in some situations…and tell ya what to expect when you’re listening to Barnett’s music.  Suffice it to say for the moment, I respect the guy and his altruistic approach…he’s got an unfiltered way of expressing himself, which is likely a direct result of the sense of urgency he feels towards the topics he’s been writing about.  Not content to just sit on the sidelines and watch, Greg’s activism through music is certainly noticed…and appreciated.

Now…”Earthrise” has got something really special going for it, and you can hear that ingredient straight away – it’s perspective.  This song is pretty much the ultimate environmental statement, full stop.  Considering that’s the specific area that Greg was aiming for, you’ve gotta admire how he hit the bullseye like Robin Hood splitting the arrow when it comes to “Earthrise.”  The video on YouTube will somewhat support my theories here, but from what I gathered, “Earthrise” describes what it would be like to view our planet from a distance, set in the future (in the not-too-distant future if we don’t get our act together), and is told from one or two points of view…not entirely sure on that last part.  Lyrically, it’s sound stuff & really well thought-out.  You’ve seen the moonrise if you’re a resident of Earth before, so now think of observing this majestic marble from a different planet in that same sort of way – only, because of our mistreatment of the environment & such, you’re not seeing it as beautiful and blue as it once was.  While the observatory and objective imagery is very vivid, I get the sense from how the story of this song wraps up that it’s much more likely to be from one person’s perspective rather than two.  It’s not like this person is seeing Earth for the first time, “Earthrise” is more like a reflection of a weary space traveler that is looking back at the home he used to know, that he was forced to abandon.  If you watch the video on YouTube, you’ll find that this song is slightly extended to include an intro that was a clever addition to “Earthrise.”  Performance-wise, it’s good – Greg gets a lot of mileage out of his melody on this song.  Production-wise, it’s crystal clear.  As for uniqueness, that’s a bit harder to say – it’s tough to recreate the wheel when the roots of the song could be boiled down to an acoustic Folk ballad – and of course, songs about our environment have indeed been written before.  That being said, I felt like Barnett ended up singing this from a smart perspective to tell this tale from “Earthrise,” and I think that can count for just as much when you’re measuring harder to quantify elements like authenticity and uniqueness.  Can a fraction of a song still lead it to being unique overall?  I’ll let you be the judge & jury.

“We’re just a speck of dirt in the great void of space that we cling to with our fingernails” – that’s a great line from “Frogs In A Pan.”  Wait a second here…”Frogs In A Pan?”  Greg’s based in Australia…lemme see what would the translation be for our Canadian-based pages here – lobsters in a pot, I believe.  And so, I’m certainly not going to lie to ya – I’m absolutely one of those pesky people that believes in climate change.   Mostly just from the evidence, don’t panic…it’s not like I’m trying to work my opinion in here, I trust the words of years and years and years of research…crazy me, right?  Or I could cite the fact that I used to walk to school in the snow in October when I was growing up and now I’m lucky if I see some before January is over here in British Columbia.  Maybe that tells you more about how I’m older than dirt than it does about climate change…again, I’ll let you be the judge of that.  What I can tell you is that the message of “Frogs In A Pan” definitely comes across.  It’s actually got a lot in common with like, those old-school Vietnam-era protest songs…and I kinda dig that.  I like that Greg was a little more direct in not only citing what the problems are, but also takes the time to speak on who is responsible.  What he does really well on “Frogs In A Pan” is give it a good dose of lyrical ambiguity.  Like for me, the implication of “Frogs In A Pan” is like…well…you know…grim, but being cooked is what it comes down to I guess, which makes me think of the heat involved, hence climate change & whatnot.  But temperature is a different beast, and the metaphor of “Frogs In A Pan” can extend out far and wide as well.  As in, we, the frogs, are cooking ourselves, in the pan – you following me?  We’re electing warmongers, science deniers, liars, thieves, and gaslighters…you’d wear a hole in your scalp if you were to scratch your head thinking about why our species seems so very set on its own destruction.  In many ways, “Frogs In A Pan” is also about power itself…who has it…should they have it…and how corrosion begets corruption.  Vibe-wise, I like the sound of the intentions in this idea for the music here more-so than I probably liked the results, but it’s not too far off.  I didn’t love the mix on Greg’s vocals I suppose…couple of weird ticks and quirks timing-wise in the metering at times…but yeah…despite that stuff, it’s still a decent listen.  I’d liken something like “Frogs In A Pan” that is based in activism, environmentalism, and socio-political stuff, to what we hear from Pete Gustard – you just never know…maybe they’ll become some kind of super-collaboration in the future.

“Oh Vey Maria.”  Wait.  Greg – did you just start this up with a Dad joke?  I see what you did there!  So let’s see…where I am at with this one?  I’m back to liking the sound of Greg’s vocals again, so that’s gotta be a good thing.  Song-wise…I dunno…there’s a little less for the folks to hang onto here when it comes to the hooks they’re typically looking to listen to are concerned.  That doesn’t make “Oy Vey Maria” a bad song whatsoever, but it does imply it would be more challenging to get this one heard.  What I didn’t tell you right off the bat here, is that I actually like the title very much – I’m a word-guy, and I’ve never shied away from some clever wordplay, or a Dad Joke for that matter, so of course I thought that was amusing.  As for the resulting story that exists within this song and Barnett’s lyricism…that’s harder to judge here.  I’ve read & heard the lyrics in listening, but I’ve also read the synopsis from the video posted at YouTube as well…they’re mostly on the same page, but I think reading that YouTube description will give you a little more insight as to how the religious-based argument in this song plays a significant role in modern-day politics.  I’m not saying Greg is wrong – I actually agree entirely with what he’s saying – it’s just harder to glean what he was aiming for by the song all on its own.  If you were to examine “Oy Vey Maria” by itself, you’d likely just notice that Barnett’s view on religion is highly critical, for reasons completely justified and addressed within this very song.  I’ll put it to you this way, he could have added a neon sign flashing all of his words to “Oy Vey Maria” and placed it right outside your window and even that wouldn’t make what he has to say here any clearer to you than how he’s already gone about saying what he wants to say about the uselessness of religion throughout this song.  From the write-up at YouTube, he makes it clear that he feels just like I do, and that if you can find some sort of comfort in religion, cool…but make no mistake, humanity has spent so much time on ‘the good book’ in comparison to how much of that time we could have used to really solve the problems that face us.

While the songs you’ve heard to this point came out on a thirty-song record called The Flat White Album back in 2020, “Colours Fade” reaches back even further in time to 2015.  On an album called Prescient by Nothing At All, you’ll find Greg singing “Colours Fade” – it’s true, I swear!  The very same dude!  Okay, obviously it’s a fairly normal thing to release music under more than one name throughout the course of a career…I’ll calm down.  It does of course confirm that Barnett’s been doing what he’s doing for more time than what he’s been doing under his own name as a solo artist, but yes indeed, you couldn’t mistake the man behind the music when you have a listen.  Hard to say which way you’d want to look at it, and we’d only be judging by this one song in the bunch, but either Greg was as good as he is now way back when in 2015, or he hasn’t evolved too much in what he created five years later in 2020.  Six or one half-dozen of the other I reckon…it’s all about the perspective you have.  I say we’ll give him credit for being as good back then as he is now…that’s the lens I view things from.  It’s a decent track…heck, I could even argue that the hooks of “Colours Fade” are even more defined in a way that is accessible to the people out there listening, even if I still feel like “Colours Fade” has left another 20% of its potential on the table.  Ultimately, from what I can gather, the song is more or less about change…not necessarily the kind you wanna see, but the kind that is objectively happening.  A weathering of sorts, that is largely man-made…and its effects not just on the physical landscape we’re so proudly exploit, but also the wear and tear that occurs in a society that doesn’t take enough care of itself.  Conceptually, I like it.  Execution-wise, this feels a little clunky to me…maybe a bit too timid or cautious in the musicianship, where you wanna hear a song like this played with purpose and conviction threaded into the DNA of every note – that make sense?  It’s cleverly poetic and thought-provoking…I like that in the same way that I like other projects like Blunt Objects that have that distinct voice and somewhat noticeably jaded way of looking at things.  Greg’s music is smart in the sense that it’s not ALL doom and gloom…he does manage to get a little hope sprinkled in here & there so we don’t all wanna off ourselves in advance of our impending demise.  Yeah…I suppose I’d tell ya that with the advantages of time and experience, I’d be willing to bet that Greg would be able to make a more potent version of this particular song today, and that might be a good idea.  It’s certainly still relevant.  You can even hear that it’s got that like…Pink Floyd-like potential to it.  Might be worth dusting this off for a remix on Barnett’s next album to come.

“The C-Bomb.”  Hmm!  I wonder if that potentially implies the same NSFW definition we’d put on it here in Canada, or certainly in the UK.  Chances are it’s much more likely to be a reference to climate & how freakishly disruptive it seems to be just to try and have a conversation about what’s happening right in front of our eyes.  Let’s be real here, climate is a topic that’s way harder to bring up than it should be.  In the case of “The C-Bomb,” Greg has given himself plenty of runway with his lyricism by comparison to the other songs we’ve heard from him so far.  A longer song, more words…all that naturally equates to him being able to say more of what he wants to communicate to the world – and I think it’s fair to say that he continues to prove he isn’t shy about letting you know what he thinks.  While I’d tell you that it sounds clear to me that the message is the number one priority above all things…as in, the performance suffers a little bit, but the words get out there clearly, and that’s the real objective for a guy like Greg.  If you happen to like or love the melodies or rhythms in the songs he writes, I’d imagine that’s a bonus.  You can feel the weight of adhering to the rhyme scheme in that like…limerick sense of style…and that’ll probably grab some more than others, but I still think that Barnett has got a pleasant sound to go along with this vivid description of how we’ve been letting everything go to shit.  Greg’s got no qualms about calling us out, and in my opinion, we need more people like him.  As much as I’d still tell you that just holding a mirror up to ourselves doesn’t mean anyone has to look, obviously both Greg and I would hope that you would.  We’ve all got a role to play in rescuing this planet, and ourselves from oblivion – “but nothing penetrates our daily grind because ordinary things fill our minds” – #GregAintWrong.  He’s a little on the grim side of things in this last single I’ve been checking out, but again, it’s justified if you ask me.  Not only is the reality he’s describing objectively all based in truth, science, and quantifiable facts, but he’s been writing about this kind of stuff and hoping for change for so long at this point, it’s gotta be exhausting to continually see how the people of earth seem so content to bring on the reaper.  “The joke’s on us in this Comedy of Life, if you didn’t laugh you’d surely cry.”  What’d I already tell ya?  #GregAintWrong.  Some will call him cynical and some will call him alarmist, but more will call him realistic and truthful in the long run.  Activism is playing the long game, often having to make your own rules along the way so that you’re not becoming a victim within an existing framework built to suppress voices that support change.  Knowing that YOU can always do something positive on an individual level is what confirms WE can collectively unite to push the boundaries until we shake the foundation of the system to achieve those changes we so desperately need to survive.  As to whether or not we WILL – that’s a whole other story…but it’s through the truth displayed in music and art documenting life on earth that I take some solace that one of these days, things will make enough sense to wake up the masses.  We’re parasites with a hive mentality…it’s a deadly combination…but there’s still hope that we’re not too late to save ourselves.  Jeez!  It got heavy in here, didn’t it?  Don’t let Greg’s pleasant Folk/Pop sound on “The C-Bomb” fool you…this dude can write a devastating tune when he wants to!  What he’s doing with his music is important though.  Not everyone is going to be ready to hear his message in this current state of society, but one way or the other if we’re not careful and we don’t get our collective asses in gear real quickly, real soon…they’ll soon discover he was right, about everything.

#GregAintWrong – feel free to quote me on that.

Find more music by Greg Barnett at Spotify here:  https://open.spotify.com/artist/5uHP9QKJgYzM1QIonFdf8c

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