What Doesn't Break

Over the course of five albums and a number of videos, singles, and cover versions, openly gay singer-songwriter Tom Goss has carved himself a niche in the folk / pop scene. The ten certifiably earworm-inducing songs on his sixth release, "What Doesn't Break," might just kick the walls of that niche down and earn him a wider audience.

To judge solely on the material, Goss is ready for it. There's a new level of sophistication to the song's production, thanks in large part of the contributions of producer Marr Zimm, but Goss' songwriting has matured and begun to venture into new thematic areas both musically and lyrically.

The opening title, "Wake Alive," is a Goss song though and through, from the dynamic guitar figure to the song's turns of phrase ("Wake Alive" is very much a Goss-sounding phrase, and it recurs later in the album in a clever and almost too-subtle callback). But even here, the layers of sonic creativity (and Goss singing in a lower register than usual) signal that something's up.

The confessional second track "Thirteen" (in which Goss cops to drinking and killing pigeons, among other juvenile vices) is still recognizable Goss, and other songs on the album are very much part of his oeuvre -- the aftermath-of-coming-out ballad "Mama," for instance; the almost jaunty breakup song "Holes in the Wall"; the rapturous and the deeply tender "In for It" come to mind -- but in every case there's something more, something extra. Goss, it would seem, has grown into his craft.

Look out, then, for absolute image-smashers "Someone Else" and "Forbidden." The former is a hard-driving, nasty bit of funk with a serrated edge that has Goss singing, "I could take the high road, but that wouldn't give me pleasure," and telling a cheating lover to hit the road in no uncertain terms: "I'm'a burn all your stuff; you try and come on back, I'm gonna fuck you up!" The latter song starts out like a typical Goss love song, then spins open into a deep delve into sexual insecurity and soul searching. That sweet and smiling kid we got to know over the last ten years has got a lot more pungency to him than we might have thought, and unleashed here it gives the new material a kick into a higher creative orbit.

At the same time, the gentler songs see Goss crooning with a more touching affect, and to a more vivid and diverse sonic palette. Throughout "What Doesn't Break," he's both harder and softer than we've seen him before; by the time the set concludes with the well-matched pairing of "All My Life" and "Long Way Back Home" -- the latter a throw-your-hands-up frolic -- you'll have shed a tear or two, laughed out loud, cut a rug at least two or three times, and fallen in love with a few new favorite songs.

I'm not kidding about the way they burrow into your head. These songs are the definition of "infectious." Don't say I didn't warn you.

"What Doesn't Break"
CD
$15
http://www.tomgossmusic.net/product/doesnt-break-2016