I will swallow my pride and admit it. When I was in eighth grade, I may or may not have had Jason Castro’s face (and dreadlocks) plastered all over my binders. Jason appeared on the seventh season of the never-ending series American Idol that year. In case you have absolutely no idea who I am talking about, he won fourth place after great renditions of “What A Day For A Daydream” and “Hallelujah.” That was the year that David Cook won against David Archuletta.
In 2010, he released his self-titled album that included the great single “Let’s Just Fall In Love Again.” The track is happy and optimistic. There is clapping in the background as he serenades the listener about how cute the beginning stages of a relationship are. He conveys the emotion that nothing and nobody else in the world even matters.
However, he then took an understandable pause from his career. He was married that year at the age of 22 and soon after had his daughter, Madeline. Fun fact: he married the girl in the “Let’s Just Fall In Love Again” music video whom he had met in high school.
When I learned that Castro had some new work coming out on January 15th, you cannot even imagine my level of excitement. However, when I bought “Only A Mountain,” I found myself both unimpressed and very very very disappointed. The title track was clichéd and repetitive. Many of the songs had a nice message, but just bored even me to death with their repetitiveness.
As far as “Safehouse” is concerned, I do not have a clue what is happening. The theme that tomorrow is too late is accompanied by chimes and background vocals to make it cheery. When you add in the details about how the listener’s mom died, the whole song is changed. The lyrics and sad story do not in any way make sense with the mood that the instrumentals set.
Only three songs managed to save me from tears. Both “Enough” and “Good Love” put me in a good mood regardless of the boring lyrics. His romantic serenades get me every time and these times were no exception to the rule. This is the Jason Castro that I remember.
“If It’s Love” was also a good one. Not only was it more interesting than the other tracks, but it also displayed his talents better. He holds out notes for longer than in other songs and shows off his vocal range a bit more. The slight changes in the beat throughout the song catch my attention. The lyrics “If it’s love then we’re worth saving” are more emotional and personal-sounding than the lyrics of the other songs.
As I hang my head in disappointment, I hope that Castro will prove just how great of a musician he is with his next album.
