Michael Stovall

I think it is a human need to be validated. Be it through a scene in a movie or a song that speaks about these moments in our lives. True artists know this. You can tell it is not just about putting together an album that sounds radio-friendly or “accessible” to all. It is more on the need to express ones own self to the world. It is a message in a bottle waiting to be picked up. Though we are constantly surrounded by people, doesn’t mean we don’t feel the enormity of life. Sometimes the most public individuals are the lonely ones. Hiding behind the facade of smiles and confident voices. Waiting for someone to pick up the clue that leads them to the soul of that person. All of us want to be discovered and understood.

In Georgia, singer/songwriter Michael Stovall took these realizations and made them into songs. No wonder listening to the full album feels like eavesdropping at someone in the confessional. There are those moments of searing revelations that make us feel like he is singing about our secrets, our pain and our joys.

All Good Things Fall Apart is personal to me. Years have taught me to develop mistrust on happiness. Don’t we all get failed at one point in our lives? Have we not experienced that moment when we give ourselves to someone only to meet our own end? If you have watched the Little Mermaid you know that it doesn’t end well. The protagonist dies after giving her fate to the one she loves. Because we know that after stepping into that door there is no going back.

But this album also speaks of hope and the sense of belonging. Interlude(track 5) has this line that goes ” hold me now, oh I fear I’m never leaving this place.” I think it’s his choice of chords to embellish the lyrics that makes magic happen.

I think that Katie has all the elements that make it a potential single. It is easy to the ears. The lyrics are poignant. It is a straightforward love song. In this world of people who don’t believe in things like miracles, purity and dreams, maybe they can learn something from Georgia. I don’t really cry listening to albums. But this one made me. I listened to his EP Mercy(2013) and it did the same thing to me. It is always a pleasure to stumble across a recording that makes you feel very human. Amidst the scars and shields we have accumulated through the years.

http://michaelstovall.bandcamp.com/album/georgia