On his first solo album (recorded for old pal Brendan O'Brien's imprint at Columbia Records), former Follow for Now frontman David Ryan Harris pursued a far different path than his former band, although with no drop-off in musical variety. Where Follow for Now's lone album crackled with a volatile mix of punk, funk, and ska, David Ryan Harris is a more restrained affair, showcasing the Atlanta musician's singer/songwriter leanings in several different settings. He certainly hasn't forgotten how to rock, as songs like "King Karma," with its piledriving, Hendrix-style riff prove. But Harris smoothly shifts gears to offer the folky R&B of "If I Had a Dime" and the swinging, Stevie Wonder-ful "Tricks Up My Sleeve," even managing to replicate a bit of R.E.M. jangle on the propulsive "Six Feet Off the Ground." If there's a weakness here, it's that -- save for that latter tune -- most of these songs are subtle constructions that need a few listens to sink in. That fact, combined with Harris' standard defiance of racial pigeonholing, probably combined to doom this album commercially, but it's a mature and thoughtful effort that history shows -- given the crop of guitar-strumming new soul pinups who appeared a few years after its release -- was simply ahead of its time.
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