Album Review | Billy Shaddox, 'I Melt, I Howl'

Music can often transport you to different places, and not just on an emotional level. With colorful lyricism, and a geo-genre musicality, certain music can make you forget, where your feet are currently planted, altogether. Singer/songwriter Billy Shaddox accomplishes that exact feat with ‘I Melt, I Howl,’ as he lets listeners melt into the rivers, and howl along with the western winds of Colorado.

On ‘I Melt, I Howl,’ an intensely evocative world unfolds as Shaddox renders a cascade of mental imagery that is steeped in the beauty of a soul-stirring wilderness, and lyricism that evokes the crucial strokes of human nature.

Opening with the album’s enchanting title track, Shaddox plunges listeners into the majesty of streaming tranquility. From the onset and onward, Shaddox keeps his 2015 record teeming with upbeat ditties, and versatile tracks that blend the harmonious tonality of the 2000’s singer/songwriter, with the artists of the 70’s penchant for melodic soft rock. 

The album seamlessly flows from “I Melt, I Howl,” into the contemplative “My Hands Don’t Lie,” and then to the folksy allure of “Feels Like Home.” 

Next up is the tender, storytelling of “Fireflies.” Then the sparkly “I Believe,” which features the album’s most breezily toned track. At the halfway point, “The Story of You and I,” does as its title suggests; by painting the lovely “story” of a devoted relationship. 

In “Telescope,” Shaddox shifts gears into a more rollicking musicality, which features a delightful piano-base. While “Golden Coast” and “Leaves in Autumn,” bring the album’s vivid Americana vibe to bear.

As ‘I Melt, I Howl’ winds down, it does so with the gently reflective “Who You Were,” before closing with the album’s longest-running track. The thoughtful “Not Easy Anymore.” On that note, ‘I Melt, I Howl’ leaves listeners with the soft echo of folksy reverie, and the end of a transcendent, musical experience.

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