Sid Hagan – SERE – Album Review | The Ark of Music – The best music in the world…you never knew existed.

With over 49 years in the music industry as a singer/songwriter, producer, and recording engineer, Sid Hagan has shared the recording desk and stage with a long list of talent which includes the likes of David Crosby, Doc Watson, Bill Staines, and blues legend, R. L. Burnside.

Though born in the frigid northern Midwest’s South Dakota, Hagan bounced around for years until settling in Charlottesville, Virginia. Despite performing in bands since the age of 15, the soon-to-be 65 year-old musical veteran has never made a solo album—until now. He explains, “I found that working with and for others took me away from realizing my own music… over the years I had plans to do a solo recording, but life always intervened and I never got to do it until last year.”

Calling upon the decades of musical networking and sonically-forged relationships, Sid (vocals, acoustic guitar) put together a group of talent that includes Billy Worley (guitars, keys, drum sequences), Robbie Wells (fiddle, mandolin), Pat Lawrence (double bass), Brian Wooten (electric guitars), Willie DE (electric guitar), Devon Sproule (vocals), Charles Owens (tenor sax), and Paul Curreri (everything else). Together, over the better part of a year, the group brought Hagan’s vision to life, bringing forth his debut, solo album, Sere.

HERE’S WHAT WE DUG MOST…

OUR FAVORITE TRACK…
Opening with what is hands-down our favorite track on the album, is the disarmingly sweet, Alliance Of Kindness. A subtle, acoustic melody melds with ambient electric notes, and a message of gentle love, to create a song worthy of your all-time classic & chill playlists, as well as future consideration for our 2018 top ten…

“And we’re under the sky, stars bright tonight
Alliance Of Kindness, we found in the light…”

The jazzy, psych-folk, Away From Us, offers a strangely pleasing organ/synth-rich composition with a touch of electronic effects and a few fashionably broken electric licks that immediately reminded me of the work of The Stone’s, Keith Richards.

With its classic-folk style harmonies, and nostalgically heart-warming message, Do For The Others, it could be argued, embodies the album’s quintessential sound.

Into The Desert is immediately reminiscent of James Taylor’s subtle, lyrics/vocal-first acoustic sound, with just a touch of modern engineering, particularly in its serene and psychedelic electric solo at 5:45.

“My dreams were tossed, like whiskey across the bar
The whole place smells like my fear…”

—Parnell

In delightfully surreal Neil Young-meets-Hotel California storytelling fashion, Hagan reminisces about loves lost and dreams long dead in, Parnell. Electronic synth tones interweave with fiddle and electric guitars to bring forth the future of the genre. Think I’m kidding?

The smooth and jazzy, Sere, the album’s title track, is Hagan’s sad—though hopeful—response to the violent events that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia last year. From my outsider’s perspective, the song seems both appropriate and accurate…

“Sometimes this place of fear
Takes us long way round
Space becomes so sere
And then we’re underground
Space becomes so sere
And then we’re underground”

IN CONCLUSION…
Rich and diverse, mild and gentle, well-intentioned and substantive, and never less than interesting, Sid Hagan’s longtime-coming, debut, solo album, Sere, is like a refreshing walk across a breezy prairie-land at sunset. Meaning: the experience of it—in and of itself—is enough. With its soft, acoustic themes of peaceful memory and longing, this is music for music’s sake. I.E., this collection of songs is no more or less than one man’s pure and unadulterated musical interpretation of the life behind—and before—him. If you enjoy the under-spoken styles of Taylor, Young, and others, you’ll love this album.

WHOSE LOVECHILD…?
James Taylor meets Neil Young with a twist of Roy Orbison…

BELOW: Check out our full artist interview with Sid Hagan, listen to his album, Sere, connect with his website and social media platforms, and find his booking & contact information. Please support Sid Hagan by visiting him online, and playing, downloading, and/or purchasing his music. And, as always, thank you for supporting real music!