Album Reviews
Movies
Concert Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Contact Us

In Search of the Flip Artist: Nathan Johnson Label: Indie Length: 11 tracks/50:18

Hey Thom

Heavy on the picking patterns and meandering vocals, In Search of the Flip is a pretty passionate, but raw, CD. The simple instrumentation gives this album a different sound. Johnson's voice and quirky acoustic sounds are the bulk of the album, yet, most songs meld into periods of guitar effects, fuller instrumentation, and complementary background music. The catchy acoustic guitar licks can only go so far and they sound much better when accompanied (by anything).

"Dollface" is a quality song on this album. It's difficult to pin whether it's Jason Fenati's background vocals or the heavy guitar and synthesizer effects or Johnson's muted vocals, but the song is really catchy. Johnson sounds best with muted vocals. This may be because his vocals are sometimes mixed too high in the CD. He also sounds best in the higher, more strenuous notes in the music (yet he sings most of the album in the bass clef). He also sounds better with the background vocals of his sister Bethany Johnson (as in songs like "The Magnet Song" and "Giving up the Capers for the Cash"--tracks 6 & 7). "Giving up the Capers for the Cash" is another quality song. Johnson actually pulls off a mixed singing/speaking portion in this song that flirts with breaking into a rap but doesn't.

Unfortunately, it seems that Johnson placed his 4 strongest songs as the final 4 positions on the album (intentional maybe?). His most beautiful vocals in this album are always with his sister, Bethany, in tracks 9 and 10. Track 10 ("The Magnet Song") gives me the impression that Bethany Johnson should really have her own album-­her voice is beautiful. Its clarity reminds me of some Vineyard worship music vocalists. Of course its gentleness and clarity is probably more noticeable due to the rugged power and passion of Nathan Johnson's vocals. It's a nice combination on "The Magnet Song."

The final song, "Uncle Milo's Nudist Farm," is definitely a lyrical stretch for the closed-minded and easily offended. It's a great journey into nakedness and all the figurative meaning of nakedness.honesty, openness, non-pretentiousness, being unabashedly nonchalant. While this is not the explanation given in the liner notes, it's a multi-faceted song with plenty of meaning and values beyond shock (while still maintaining shock value). When I first heard the song, I couldn't believe what I was hearing on a Christian's album, but I really like its slap-in-the-face realism. After all, God made our bodies, right, we're the ones who screwed up and began hiding them! The song makes me wish we could all walk around naked like in the Garden of Eden again!

The lyrics in this album are its strongest point. Johnson is a thinker and he makes you think. He is also a feeler and he makes you feel. He is a good writer. Yet, as I said, this is a quirky, almost experimental, album. It isn't for everyone, but, as it says in the CD liner notes, if you like this album, "you may enjoy "Favorite Irish Drinking Songs" by Paddy."

Israel Kloss 1/7/2001