Tristan Dolce

About

Tristan Dolce is a LA-based musician and recording engineer, having amassed technical credits on recent records from Prince, Fleetwood Mac, Califone, Psychic Temple, and Alex Dupree, among others. Dolce reveals himself to be an engrossing and striking singer-songwriter on Medium True, using folk and country rock to dress his occasionally long-winded but overtly friendly pop songs. The vivid storytelling in the lyrics of “Willow Springs” is more than matched by the rest of Medium True–the backing music isn’t as propulsive in opening track “Alaska”, but it makes sense for the uncertain, frozen-in-time energy with which Dolce chooses to begin the album. The variety thru the record is also key in how memorable it is–Dolce chooses to keep The Reservoir and Ring Ring spare, almost entirely acoustic guitar-based, while letting his studio pop-side take over in “Digging Too Deep” and “Facts in the Case of M”, and both are effective backdrops for Dolce’s lyric-spinning. The twin six-minute songs that end Medium True mirror each other impressively to push the record a step further–“King of the Arroyo” is a rolling country-rocker that drifts off in its final minutes, while I Went Up is vintage big-tent, slow-burn indie rock that builds from its modest beginnings to a giant, horn-laden crescendo. I’d have to credit Dolce’s production work with how inviting Medium True feels on its surface, but the writing beyond that is what makes the record worth returning to. - Rosy Overdrive 2024

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