TODD E NICOL: It’s a Pretty Life

In early 2017 Todd E Nicol released a full-length CD, Late Some Nights. The local singer/songwriter had beefed up his sound with the addition of guitar and other accompaniment by local musician Don Strandberg. The result gave his unusual execution of his offbeat folk songs an extra dimension of accessibility and tunefulness, but did not alter Nicol’s tendencies toward occasional meandering song structures, drawn out sustains in his vocals that verge here and there on discord, and a general feeling of haphazardness that pops through on some of the tracks. His new CD, It’s a Pretty Life, is more of the same on a dozen originals, with some new features.

Again, Strandberg’s contributions make a huge difference. Opening with “Fresh Night Sleep,” the listener gets acquainted with Nicol’s long hanging-on syllables of lyrics and unusual chord selections–it’s not going to be everyone’s favorite approach, but it is different and sometimes a bit of a challenge can be endearing. Nicol’s guitar strumming and key on “Feminine Touch” varies little from “Fresh Night,” but Strandberg’s electric and steel guitar touches give it a different feel, as Nicol tells of family members moving to this part of the country in the old days.

“Shooting Star” breaks a string of songs with similar rhythmic and melodic feel, and it has a more imaginative, fingerpicked guitar figure and harmonized choruses as Nicol sings: “Have we come to be only shooting stars/ Millions of miles afar… Look and see/ Tiny planet, infinity.” Strandberg’s Spanish guitar decorations lift the highlight, and Nicol’s restraint on the lingering sustains helps. In “Bad Dreams” a minor chord slowly descending chord progression gives Nicol a background for a folk song in his typical style, but is again transformed by Strandberg’s electric and slide contributions. Nicol does a song about a friend dying of cancer–a good topic on “Don’t Talk About”–but this song goes off on soaring musical tangents that just don’t add up; by the time the listener figures that the vocal isn’t way off key and is just an odd change, the moment is lost.

Nicol does enough songs with similar guitar strums and vocal intonations that those that change things up stand out. “Lucky You” has a different feel as a personal folk song with a message and breaks the mold with a nice hook that brings his message home: “Lucky you, you who never have to choose/ From these few words I have to live on.” The precarious vocal doesn’t matter in the moment of this heartfelt two-and-a-half-minute highlight. Nicol steps out of the box again with “I’m Close By,” which shoots for an anthemic feel in verses and has harmonized, soaring choruses, where he actually hits falsettos. It tries more things than any other track and most of them work. The closing track, “Hum Along,” features Nicol singing on two tracks, intertwined in a call and response.

It’s a Pretty Life has some surprises and offers a look at an interesting songwriter, Todd E Nicol, with a unique style.