Brian Andrew Marek - Modern Variety (CD)

Loudness and softness. Ditties and epics. Laughter and tears. Pop and rock. Saint Louis' maven of melody is back with a Modern Variety of song stylings to tickle your earbone.

'On Modern Variety, Marek handles all the instrumentation and, on most tracks, a few strands of vocal harmony to boot — his lead vocals tend to land with a wry, winking grin atop his compositions' zippy frenetic energy. The pep of "Big City Dreams" kicks the record off with a start — Marek says he wrote it in tribute to his girlfriend's globe-trotting spirit — and closing track "Sky Ranch" ends the disc with a ruminative piano ballad that wouldn't feel out of place on the Kinks' Muswell Hillbillies.' - Christian Schaeffer, The Riverfront Times, 4/17/19