Fort Atlantic (2012) [MP3]

  Released: May 29, 2012
  Duration: 46:42
  Genre: Pop/Rock
  Styles: Alternative, Singer/Songwriter, Dream Pop
  Codec: MP3
  Bitrate: 320 kbps
  Cover: Front

  01 No One Will Know  
  02 Career Advice  
  03 Let Your Heart Hold Fast  
  04 Up From The Ground
  05 Im Wrong
  06 Movie Screens  
  07 New York Lights  
  08 My Love Is With You 
  09 The Wrecking Ball 
  10 There Is Love 

  Fort Atlantic is really singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and 21st century home studio producer Jon Black, who assembled, arranged, and put together this striking album pretty much on his own, playing most of the instruments and parts himself. But this is no four-track analog recording full of bounce-downs - it makes full use of all that the 21st century digital realm allows, with laptops, loops, and other digital doodads blended into the mix (Black is even credited in the album liner notes with playing instruments called "atmosphere" and "noise," along with the pianos, guitars, and harmonicas he also played). Recorded largely in his home studio in Birmingham, Alabama (some additional recording and the final mixing was done at Tom Schick's Magic Shop in New York City), Black did use some additional musicians in the later stages of the project (including drummer Josh Cannon, who plays with Black as a duo called Fort Atlantic for live shows), and the resulting album is a wonderful bit of anthemic and melodic dream pop, sounding a bit like Jackson Browne set loose in a Pro Tools playground. But Fort Atlantic is no 21st century Frankenstein project. It sounds like classic rock, free of gimmicks even as it is actually laced with them, and as a lesson in how what's new can be used to make something that seems old and timeless, Fort Atlantic has to get an A plus.