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Where do listeners look to find evolution in the music of a consistently stable artist such as Ty Causey? For my money, the evolution comes in refinements in Causey’s songwriting. Listeners will hear the growth when listening to False Faces, the latest project from the Fort Wayne native.
The lyricism on Causey’s latest is tighter and more focused. If anything, Causey has become an even better storyteller, especially when he explores love’s embattled underbelly. This becomes clear on the high-energy tracks “Too Much Baggage” and “Creepin’ (Showdown).” The former cut finds Causey resisting the advances of a comely lady who happens to be a needy and materialistic drama queen. On “Creepin’” Causey confronts an unfaithful lover who has been carrying on with his best friend.
Where do listeners look to find evolution in the music of a consistently stable artist such as Ty Causey? For my money, the evolution comes in refinements in Causey’s songwriting. Listeners will hear the growth when listening to False Faces, the latest project from the Fort Wayne native.
The lyricism on Causey’s latest is tighter and more focused. If anything, Causey has become an even better storyteller, especially when he explores love’s embattled underbelly. This becomes clear on the high-energy tracks “Too Much Baggage” and “Creepin’ (Showdown).” The former cut finds Causey resisting the advances of a comely lady who happens to be a needy and materialistic drama queen. On “Creepin’” Causey confronts an unfaithful lover who has been carrying on with his best friend.
Some might include “The Limit of Love,” Causey’s duet with Lenora Jaye, as another tune exploring a touchy subject. In this case, the vocalists put forth a series of rhetorical questions that ponder whether love can withstand joblessness, homelessness or any of the other crises people face in the modern day world. Causey is not known as a singer brings social issues to the forefront, but “The Limit of Love” recognizes that a lot of couples find themselves confronting a world where the “for worse,” “in sickness” and “for poorer” portion of their wedding vows moved from conceptual to reality.
Causey’s stock and trade is singing numbers that celebrate love, and False Faces includes its share of songs where the vocalist does just that. Causey invites the object of his affections to let go of her reservations and prior hang ups and embrace the new on the mid tempo jam “Tap Into This Chemistry.” This cut showcases Causey’s ability to both write and deliver a memorable hook.
Causey is who he is, and that would be an R&B crooner who is deeply influenced by 1970s and 80s era love men such as Peabo Bryson, Glenn Jones, Freddie Jackson and of course Luther Vandross. At this point in his career, as one of the leading voices in the indie soul movement, it would make sense to assume that Causey’s work might become somewhat formulaic, that he might fall into a rut and rely on vocal gimmicks to hide the fact that he can’t find new and interesting things to say about his primary topic of interest. False Faces shows that Causey’s sound has yet to hit that plateau. It is another artistic step forward for one of the more dependable male singers of our time. Recommended.
By Howard Dukes