Julian Sakata – See? (CD)

“The Day I Wasn’t Attacked” is a perfect piece of melodic rock, with Julian’s vocals taking a dominant position, while the instrumentation provides the perfect highlighting for everything that Sakata does on the track. The strong opening to “See?” continues with the disc’s second track, “Suffer The Young”. “Suffer The Young” shows Sakata’s vocals as being influenced by the past and present in pop music, taking on hints of Jakob Dylan, Rufus Wainwright, and even singers like Billy Joel and John Mellencamp. The pomp of the instrumentation on “Suffer The Young” matches perfectly Sakata’s vocals, and together, these constituent parts make a track that listeners will remember for months to come.

“The Restoration of a Child’s Robot” is a track that continues to create a coherent sound for “See?”, but is important in that it shows that Sakata can take on a number of styles and approaches without losing his own unique sound. “The Restoration of a Child’s Robot” has a slower tempo, and the instrumentation creates a more pensive, heavy sound. Where previous tracks did well in showing Sakata’s emotions, it is “The Restoration of a Child’s Robot” that hammers home the intensity in which Sakata delivers emotions on “See?”. Unlike many other artists, who tend to taper off towards the end of their albums, Sakata keeps his nose to the grindstone during the latter half of “See?”. This means that “Toast”, one of the final cuts on “See?”, blends a very Spartan approach to instrumentation with a set of vocals that blends together equal parts Edwyn McCain and Bob Dylan to make something that is immediately classic, and is right up there with “Suffer The Young” in terms of quality.

“No Good Bye” is another track that lights up the second half of “See?”, adding a little bit of alt-country to the style that Sakata had nurtured and expanded on during the earlier tracks of the album. It is this ability to add in things that most would think incompatible, and make these inclusions so catchy, that is one of Sakata’s strongest suits. Keep listening in for Sakata’s music; new tracks will be on the soundtrack for Night Wedding, and a Sakata track were on the 2007 show “Love Monkey”. Keep also in mind the upcoming Sakata tour, which will hit up a number of venues in both the United States and Europe in the next year.

Top Tracks: Toast, Turning

Rating: 7.8/10

Julian Sakata – See? / 2008 Rainstar / 12 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/juliansakata /