Can you be a singer-songwriter located in Boston and not pick up at least a bit of musical concepts from Jonathan Richman?
Quite possible, but consciously or unconsciously, Sam Bergquist isn’t one of them. And then, why should he?
On his latest 4-song EP, ‘Wiser Then,’ Bergquist has that down to earth, straight in tyour face approach, in his songwriting, lyrics, and vocal delivery, that relates to Richman, even though he had quite a few listens to the greats like Tom Waits, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell and others.
Is that a problem? Certainly not if you are able to infuse not only your personal approach, but quite a bit of your imagination and draw from personal experiences, and that is exactly what Bergquist doe here.
He explains his songwriting style: “I’ve always loved the sounds of particular words and how they go together with other words. Writing a song sometimes feels like putting together a puzzle.”
The results are quite intriguing. While Bergquist most of the time resorts to the simple acoustic backdrop, that can be a double-edged sword if your vocals and lyrics don’t work, he manages to keep things crystal clear throughout, coming up with some prime singer-songwriter material.
