This record threw me for a loop when I first heard it. I wrote a quick blurb a couple weeks ago that described the record, somewhat offhandedly, as ‘a young artist exploring new sounds.’ The suggestion being that I was not totally enamored with the record. After yet another late night listening, I have to revise my comments, if not retract them all together.
Not Afraid of Nothing is not what I wanted/expected from young wunderkind Anthony da Costa. After the double whammy of last year’s Typical American Tragedy and the instant classic Bad Nights and Better Days (a duo record with Red Molly’s Abbie Gardner), I wanted a folk rock classic. I wanted a record that would draw from and yet compete with Bring It All Back Home or After the Gold Rush. I wanted him to go into the studio and record some of his new songs, folk anthems like “The Rest of My Life†and humorous asides like “Poor, Poor Pluto†(both of which were staples of da Costa’s live sets if youtube can act as a witness). I wanted a record that I could hold up and say “here it is, the new young hope†(the new Dylan, blah, blah, i.e. see Springsteen, Mellencamp, Oberst, etc.). Turns out, I was misguided and Anthony da Costa is going to hoe his own road.
Not Afraid of Nothing is not a perfect record and thank god for that. The record is a slab of life, real, idealized, and otherwise. Da Costa explores new lyrical territory both in style and content. Scarcely a year has passed since Typical American Tragedy, yet da Costa seems less sure of himself in both life and in love, a sign of maturity if I’ve ever heard one. Not Afraid of Nothing seems more personal, an insight into da Costa’s soul, rather than the insight to his talent that past records have been.
Not that the talent isn’t present here. From a lesser artist, this kind of deviation may have seemed indulgent and fail to come across. The instrumentation isn’t as different as my initial reaction would leave you to believe though. There’s plenty of acoustic guitar and folk songs, but da Costa also uses violin, piano, and lap steel in manners previously unheard on his records. This isn’t change for change’s sake though. The atmospheric production, possibly encouraged by co-producer John Eliot, acts as a counter point for some of da Costa’s more adventurous lyrical and vocal explorations.
Listening to the introspective “If You Want Itâ€, the grand statement of “I Am Way Too Muchâ€, and the unabashed emotion of “Crazyâ€, one can’t help but wonder just how good is this kid? While I was hoping for a better version of Ryan Adams, da Costa was reaching beyond that. This isn’t an emo record, but it reaches for the kind of emotional gravity of Ben Nichols or Conor Oberst. It isn’t a classic folk record, but it has the lyrical quality of a John Prine or Paul Westerberg. This isn’t the next Dylan, but I’d keep my eyes open anyway.
RIYL:Â Cory Branan, Elliott Smith, epiphanies
About the author: Specializes in Dead, Drunk, and Nakedness..... Former College Radio DJ and Current Craft Beer Nerd