Final verdict: 9/10 ★★★★⋆˙⟡
Oh this, now this I dig. I cannot find an obnoxious way to segue into this the way I usually do, so here goes, nice and plain; this document is a review of Dusty Edinger’s new single, “Just Like Me” – a “manifesto,” if you will. I’ll tell ye what; unlike what his moniker implies, this guy isn’t dusty in the slightest. I find him to be quite sharp, as a matter of fact. Is the music a life affirming experience? Well, no, but here’s the thing…
I was born in the summer of 2006, a summer that yielded no good fruit. I know, I know – I’m old. Back in my day, the Teletubbies were all the rage; only since a youngling, I’ve borne an affinity for times long past – the 1960s, the 1970s, you name it, I loved it. It is rather easy to view a past you’ve never experienced through a rose-colored lens, and I was a master of the art from the get-go. I’m an easy-to-please guy in general, but just the same, I am stubborn and stuck up. Stubbornly stuck up on romanticizing an age I never got to witness first-hand and have only come to know through the music it left behind, like footprints in the fleeting snow. But I mean, can you blame me? I’m a firm believer that there is great music to be found in every decade’s archives – I accept no debate on this – but something about the 1970s, man, I don’t know. I can’t define it, and I sure as hell can’t move past it. It must’ve been something in the air, or maybe something in the water, because there’s simply no way everyone was coincidentally keen on writing bangin’ tunes in the early-to-mid 1970s. There has to be a scientific explanation for this, so please, if you are a certified science professional, do enlighten me on what was even happening there.
Well, maybe Mr. Edinger is dusty after all – dusty as in old-fashioned – and that is a compliment of the highest degree. “Just Like Me” is evocative of all that I love about “vintage” (if I may call it so) music; compact-yet-impactful arrangements, predominantly analog instrumentation, rigidly fluid performance, and clever-yet-somehow-ordinary songwriting. No flashy shenanigans – just a great song thinly veiled, yet carrying all the bells and whistles that make a good tune, well, a good tune.
There is a definite tendency towards the piano rock of it all to be found here, but there is also some other stuff, so it ain’t exactly “piano rock”… but it is all very pop-rock in the best of ways, and undoubtedly old-timey. I truly have no choice but to like it – I was hard-wired to be a suck-up. Again, I’m a simple, easy-to-please man. But I’m also stubborn and stuck up. And I most certainly am stubbornly stuck up on quite enjoying this little soft rock piece. Damn it, Dusty. You got me there, you really got me good. 9/10.
LINKS:
https://www.dustyedinger.com
https://www.instagram.com/dusty_edinger
https://www.facebook.com/dusty.edinger.2025
Silia 
Leave a comment