The debut album from the acoustic-Americana duo The Rightly So is as naked as an album can get.
That’s not a bad thing — sometimes it’s good to lose the burdens of heavy production and focus on the emotion and show some vulnerability. And this male-female combo, made up of Gregory Zeis and Jess Chizuk, seemed to have done a pretty decent job at making an album people can relate to. That nakedness is definitely on display with this record.
With just acoustic guitar and minimal percussion, their two voices carry the passion of many folk-country songs. A good amount of the songs explore concepts through drinking metaphors, which many songwriters have done before them, most recently by country singer Chris Stapleton.
The opening track is titled “Blackberry Brandy,” which says, “Not everyday is sweet like blackberry brandy.” And in the song “Wine And Shine,” they sing, “She hards like whiskey / she’s smooth like gin / she can throw a party like tequila / she’ll wake up and do it again.”
If you had to use a simile to describe the structure of this album, you could say it’s sort of like a smooth glass of whiskey. Even if you’re not a fan of acoustic music, you can recognize the duo thought out this true-to-life eight-track record. It starts with the upbeat opening track, telling us life is often more bitter than sweet, moves us through the emotions and situations of a relationship, and waves us goodbye with the ending track, “In The Line Of Fire.”
But just like life, some of the songs can be repetitive. Repetition is not always a bad thing — it creates familiarity and provides a rule to break, a way to surprise the listener. “Crash This Car,” for example, is the same major-key chord progression throughout the entire song except for one refrain that includes a minor chord. However, this song works because it’s less than three minutes in length and their voices provide enough change that the listener shouldn’t isn’t bored.
Overall, the pair’s debut album is one that’s worth listening to if you’re a fan of Americana, folk, or singer-songwriter music. It may not win awards, but it most definitely will win fans.
Both members were born in the “Buffalo rust belt,” as they say on their website, and still reside in New York. Their album drops today, July 28th. The band will be holding an album release party todat at The Alibi Bar & Grill in Hamburg, New York.