Derek Nicoletto - Champion

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Derek Nicoletto –Champion
2012, Island Def JamDerek Nicoletto was long lauded as having one of the bestvoices in Indie rock and roll.  Hisprevious band, Telling On Trixie, always seemed on the verge of somethinggreat.  Yet pop stardom is a ficklecreature, and try as they might, Telling On Trixie never quite connected withthe sort of mainstream uprising that brings a band from regional favorite tonational darling.  These days lead singerDerek Nicoletto is out there on his own, supporting his solo album Kind Ghosts, and a recent remix EP forthe song “Champion”.  Here Nicolettocontinues his musical rebirth, which has seen him shifting from rock and rollof Telling On Trixie to a darker, more electronic sound.“Champion” certainly has its pop sensibility intact.  That and some reminiscent keyboard licks makethis song sound as if Survivor had gone Goth/Post-Modern.  There are dark industrial tendencies builtinto the music here.  It’s a very solideffort from a compositional standpoint. The song is quite disjointed lyrically, sounding as if phrases were sewntogether for the purpose of filling out the music rather than out of any realstream of thought.  This works on onelevel, as a rhythmic counterpart to the composition, but falls a bit short ofexpectations based on Nicoletto’s previous work.On the whole, “Champion” is an interesting step forward forDerek Nicoletto.  It appears more effort andthought went into the music than into the lyrics, but it’s still a positiveexperience for the listener.  One hopesthat he can bring the lyrical cogence showed with Telling On Trixie to thetable on future efforts; the result will be a complete songwriting package.Rating: 3 Stars(Out of 5)Learn more at www.dereknicoletto.com.