Eric Layer, The Fall

From the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, Eric Layer brings us his self-produced cd, The Fall. There are ten tracks here, ranging in sound from The Mammas & The Papas to Layer’s own complete inventions.

Right up front, it’s important that listeners maintain a flower child, free-flow mentality in order to appreciate the psychedelic experimentation of this CD. The bottom line: it does not rock, so if you are looking for that, go elsewhere. That being said, the next thing you should know is that this disc will not stand up to a hi-fi bass setup, and the mids appear to be recorded too hot on some sound systems, although not all.

It should also be noted that there is beautiful guitar work here, and the vocals are light and delicate through most of the CD, with the unfortunate result that they’re buried in the music. The song “Sheila” showcases Layer’s voice best with the vocals further out in front of the music compared to other tracks.

Each song can be listened to time and again, with something new emerging every play; it’s almost exhausting to try and encompass everything that is going on musically. “Karina” brings an interesting Indian influence to the table, and title track “The Fall” has a great ’60s breezy sound that carries listeners along like water. I personally like “Stupid Dreams,” which has the heaviest sound on the CD and the closest you get to being rocked; it has a nasty little gritty buildup with a tea kettle whistle and spacey guitar string sound effects throughout before dropping back and falling into a quiet lull for the rest of the song, which brings the album to an end — sweet.

I do get the vague impression that this Eric Layer-written, performed, produced, mixed, and released album was made for…Eric Layer. And while you are metaphorically allowed in the car, without the aid of an alternative substance, you are not necessarily on the same trip.