The 11 songwriters of the Polaroid Collective are presented in the best possible light on their Vol. 1 release.
When a musical project bears the tag collective, it surely involves a wide number of artists involved with either a common musical concept or an attempt to bring together and unify disparate ones. With the Polaroid Collective and the project’s initial outing simply titled ‘Polaroid Collective Vol. 1’, it just might be both.
Firstly, the project involves a group of 11 songwriters from across North America who have joined forces as co-writers and collaborators, who met at the Crooked Crow songwriting retreat. Crooked Crow is an annual gathering near Presidio in Texas which is organized by Johann Wagner. And while this might sound a bit academic, there is nothing formal or stiff-shirted here. Behind a unified idea of presenting all things that represent Americana music, we get everything from roots and folk to soul and singer-songwriter-style music with yet another unifying characteristic – extremely high-quality songwriting and music.
And it really doesn’t matter which song you pick here or where you start playing this album – from Hayden Butler’s opener ‘Lighter Now,’ Bret Serell’s ‘Easy Eyes’ closer ‘Shiver, Shake’ or just any other track here – the quality of songwriting and musicianship is way above not only average, but even good. You could say it’s a perfect introduction to all of these artists.
