Alex Ebert: 'Alexander' Review

Artist: Alex Ebert
Album: Alexander
Label: Rough Trade

Los Angeles native Alexander Ebert is starting to work his way into the rare and illustrious realm of prolific artists. As the lead singer of Ima Robot, hippie extravaganza Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, and now his first solo record Alexander, he is proving that he his capable of just about anything.

Alexander has a quality that many records (good or bad) seem to lack: consistency. From “Let’s Win!” to “Let’s Make a Deal To Not Make a Deal,” we are given ten solid tracks. With an obvious nod to folk music of the 60s and 70s, “Let’s Win!” sounds like it could be on a Van Dyke Parks album. “Awake My Body” has an oom-pah sound reminiscent of The Beatles’ “Don’t Pass Me By.” I can just picture Ebert sitting in front of an old record player playing his parents’ Beatles records as a kid. But it’s “Truth,” the first single off of Alexander, where Ebert reverts to his childhood dream to be a rapper. The influence on the beat and lyrical style are unmistakable. My bet is that “Bad Bad Love” will be the first track to make its way onto a commercial or into a movie. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is up to Ebert, but the song’s catchy factor is impossible to overlook.

Every sound on Alexander, from instruments to do-it-yourself percussion were performed by Ebert. There is a sense of ownership that emanates from this record. Ima Robot and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros are fantastic groups. But that’s what they are: groups. On Alexander, we get to hear Ebert’s introspection, and it proves to be one of the most entertaining albums of recent.