Hailing from one of America’s oldest communities, Williamsburg, Virginia, Mark Rogers’ sophomore release Qualifiers is a six song recording featuring Rogers’ best material yet. He works in a singer/songwriter vein but, unlike many practitioners of the form, I don’t hear Rogers relying on formula or a series of familiar tropes to prop up his songwriting. Instead, there’s a feeling of genuine intimacy, never forced, I get from Rogers’ music and even his writing indulging in some social observations never seems heavy-handed or preachy. The intelligence driving his lyrics is every bit as present in the musical arrangements and playing – Rogers is working with like-minded musical collaborators looking help flesh out his songwriting into something even greater. They succeed on each of Qualifiers’ six songs. Mark Rogers’ second album is a step up from his first and finds this talented writer, musician, and singer refining his art with a more confident hand than before.
The rollicking “No Bigger Fool” is a number built for the stage and the uncluttered arrangement likely picks up added steam playing in front of a responsive crowd. Bringing swaths of a classic organ sound into the mix is a particularly shrewd musical move and the Telecaster snap of the guitar sound is well tuned to the song’s needs with some particularly stinging lead work in the song’s second part; it’s impossible to note love that vibrato. “Qualifiers” is a more sedate track than the opener, but generates surprising energy as it unfolds. There’s a slight ballad feel to this song and instruments like electric guitar don’t lead the musical attack in quite the same way, taking more of a compositional approach. I think “Imagining” is an even more intimate tune, perhaps thanks to the addition of some beautifully phrased piano lines and lightly double tracked vocals placed at key points throughout the song. The guitar does deliver a thoughtful, evocative solo eschewing the country rock accents of the opener in favor of a cleaner picked melodic approach/
I think “The Blues Are Passing By” may the surprise track for those unfamiliar with Rogers’ work as it flirts with a near Latin feel without ever committing itself entirely in that direction and the guitar playing shows the sort of versatility Americana associated acts like Rogers don’t typically traffic in. He goes country in a sharper way than ever before with the penultimate song “You Can Lead Me On” and it contains, arguably, the EP’s best chorus. The instrumental work is, likewise, first class and ably supports another fine Rogers’ vocal. The final song, “The World Changed Forever”, is undoubtedly meant as one of the EP’s centerpiece tunes and definitely rates among its most directly personal as Rogers looks back at John Lennon’s murder as a cultural watershed of sorts from which we’ve never recovered. One may agree or disagree with his stance, but it’s difficult to argue his point of view hasn’t made for an affecting song and conclusion for his second collection. Qualifiers is one of the best releases I’ve heard in 2018 and definitely one of the finest singer/songwriter releases in recent memory.
BANDCAMP: https://markrogers1.bandcamp.com/album/qualifiers
William Eglin