Album Review

On his solo debut, Seeing Things, Jakob Dylan sings in the closing song, “This End Of The Telescope,” about being born “in the spitting image of a man raised by wolves of the fat off the land.” Knowing his dad, he’d probably appreciate that cleverly vague description of his upbringing.Such evocative lyrics are the selling point of Seeing Things, Jakob’s first solo effort, stripped down to the bare essentials by producer Rick Rubin. Freed from the sometimes-generic rock of The Wallflowers, Dylan seems at home in the acoustic environment. He sings passionately throughout without irony or cynicism, and it suits him well.

That’s not to say Dylan’s worldview is all roses and candy. After all, the opening song is called “Evil Is Alive And Well.” But Dylan’s exasperation, while subtle, is still powerfully and movingly rendered. On “On Up the Mountain,” a lullaby about hope and possibilities, the singer still hears “the unbearable sound of the earth making men out of boys.” “Valley Of The Low Sun” also offers images of soldiers battling through difficult conditions, but Dylan avoids specific references, making the song more of a universal lament for the internal wars we all fight.

The stark musical backdrop seems to have brought the poetry out of the songwriter, as lines like “My age is a metaphor/That only speaks of everything before” from “War Is Kind” are about as deep as 21st-century lyrics get. And when the existential gloom parts on the gentle shuffle of “Something Good This Way Comes,” it’s fun to hear Dylan belting out the line “We got just what it takes” with a looseness he never quite achieved even at the height of The Wallflowers’ success.

While the quieter accompaniment does emphasize the strong lyrics, it also throws a harsh spotlight on the melodies, which are so familiar that they end up sounding bland. Indeed, without a track listing, it’s a bit hard to tell one song from another here. Only the bluesy “I Told You I Couldn’t Stop” hints at the kind of variety that would have made this a much more colorful listen.

Still, there is a lot of promise here for a maiden voyage in solo waters. It will be interesting if Dylan follows this solo road, or goes back for one more shot at rock stardom. Either way, Seeing Things proves that whatever path he takes, Jakob Dylan is an artist worth following.

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