Music is a powerful form of art.  It always has an influence on our mind and on our soul.  In the context of constantly trying to contribute to one’s own personal development as well as to the development of our communities, music can be quite a potent ingredient.  But what kind of music?  How often?  How should we consume it?  I started reviewing music in an attempt to figure these questions out, and it’s even tougher than I thought it would be.  So: challenge accepted 😉

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DownTown Mystic, Robert Allen’s alter ego, released last June a four-track EP titled DownTown Mystic on E Street, which features members of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. Allen’s passion for old school rock and roll comes through in all four of these tracks, although it’s hard to pinpoint a specific influence to each one. There are hints of so many different artists and rock and roll styles that it creates a sound both very familiar but fresh, not original but still engaging.

“Hard Enough” touches on its more boisterous, loud, and rollicking side, while the mid-tempo “And You Know Why” is melancholic and emotional, running on a simple guitar and drum line and a three part harmony chorus. The groovy “Way to Know” is more rolling than rocking, the melody featuring a relentlessness that drives it forward no matter what, giving is an anthemic quality further enhanced by easy to follow lyrics. This is a track to be seen performed live; one can easily imagine the band members playing off each other on stage. And while it is apparently a demo, closing track “Sometimes Wrong”, which shows off some great drumming, sounds already pretty great, perhaps more so than if it had been an actual polished recording.

While all four tracks definitely have a strong retro feel, mostly in the way they are stripped of modern day production fanfare, they are not outdated and would make for a solid addition to rock lovers’ music libraries. More information is available on DownTown Mystic’s official website and on their Facebook page. Tracks are available for streaming on SoundCloud.