David W. Jacobsen doesn't get any but you sure do, don't you.
This is what this up and coming singer/songwriter's latest album The Chasm, has to offer. Really, this CD is intended to offer more than that, like some kind of humor toward bad relationships - but just doesn't really get that far.
Before this starts sounding like the slamming of a bad singer and songwriter, credit should be given where it is due. David Jacobsen has a good feel for what a song should sound like. His voice is reminiscent of some deep-voiced sensitive '80s new -wave singer, having been influenced by the Smiths and the like.
He also knows how to arrange his music to this same sort of style. On a track called "New Year's Eve," he gives a simple yet campy '80s new wave synthesizer beat. It's worthy of a little moment of head bobbing enjoyment. The honest humor regarding his bad luck in finding a date and getting laid is not completely abrasive at first. It's even clever.
In the third song "Dry Spell" he bravely admits, "Ah, this is my life/I'm one of many/Not getting any." He has other songs in the same vein. Although this may be pushing the limit a bit, he has a really personal song called "Vaseline" - enough said.
All is fine and dandy until you listen to the rest of the 13 tracks. His themes do not vary. This guy has been screwed over an infinite number of times by evil girls, and he has nothing better to sing about. Every song is yet another account of how lonely he is and why.
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In one tormented, synthesized lament called "Torn" he sings, "It's two in the morning/You're with him again/I can hear through the thin walls/As you let him in." At this point it is apparent that he really takes himself seriously. Because of this, his pretentiousness shines through and doesn't let up.
Ballad after ballad of whining really gets old fast. This stagnant atmosphere surrounds the fact that his singing gets worse and worse the farther you get into the album.
Basically, The Chasm is really a deep dark hole that anyone with taste in music will not want to get sucked into. It's best for everyone's health to just stay away.
