Sideroom.com Magazine

http://sideroom.com/magazine/2010/03/dylan-storey-out-of-the-soup-2/

Out of the Soup - Dylan Storey

Auckland based musician Dylan Storey is quite the man about town, if psychedelic blues and country rock are are your thing. His third album Out of the Soup was released in late 2009, and guiltily, I have only just picked it up to listen to now. What a fool I’ve been. Chucking it on my headphones during a recent trudge to work I was mesmerized. Taking the reigns from such big alt-country names as Wilco and Ryan Adams, Storey has managed to imbue Soup with country ambience a plenty while also managing to produce a thoroughly Kiwi-sounding album. In these Fat Freddy’s Drop/Wellington Sound saturation times, it is no mean feat to take a different musical path and still manage to make an album that sounds like home. Out of the Soup contains input from a plethora of local musicians including Gareth Scott and Reb Fountain, while the lyrical content of the album ranges from traveling salesmen to politics to expensive cars and WWII. The closing track is even a genius bit of psychedelia lasting a full eight minutes. Don’t be the fool I was and go listen to this album immediately!
Rozzy Middleton

North and South Magazine

January 2010

Out of the Soup - Dylan Storey

Auckland-based Dylan Storey serves up his second full length album here, mixing pop, rock and blues with the clear vocal influence of Joe Walsh informing the style of the singing. But Storey has very much created his own sound and has a great band on hand to work through the songs. Highlights include "The skies Above Crete" with some impressive slide playing (possibly the influence of Walsh once again?) and "Footsteps of Kings", which marries slow-blues guitar to a gentle, after-hours bar ballad; an urban shanty if you like.
Simon Sweetman

Elsewhere - Graham Reed

http://www.elsewhere.co.nz/music/2757/new-and-noted/

Dylan Storey - Out Of The Soup (Storey):
A big step up on every level from his previous album Bones, this album finds Auckland singer-songwriter/guitarist Storey and his bandmates on a very confident collection of sharply focused rock-pop songs (with a smattering of blues and country-rock influences, and hard rock on the closer The Tempest, which ends with hypnotic guitar part). A little solo Keith Richards is conjured up in the excellent Lies Make An Honest Man, and the country-rock Sold It All Away with Sam Prebble on violin should be all over radio. The album has been floating around since earlier in the year but gets new life because Storey has gigs coming up. More info here.

Sounzgood Website

http://www.sounzgood.co.nz/album.aspx?Id=90

Dylan Storey- Out Of The Soup December 2009
Dylan Storey’s third album ‘Out of the soup’ I must say is an enjoyable listen. The Auckland musician who’s been a mainstay of the NZ Music scene for some tie now has produced an album packed with poetic goodness and impressive musicianship. For those not familiar with Storey his music is a mixture of Alt Country and Blues rock and roll (with tinges of the psychedelic). The opening track ‘Travelling Salesmen’ is a country style rocky up-tempo track with a hooky chorus and catchy lyrics. It’s the kind of song I would enjoy on a hot summer road trip, a perfect opening song to hook you into the album. The good times roll on with the second track ‘Lies make an honest man’ a laid back beachy pub tune. When I listen to these two opening tracks I imagine myself at a Raglan pub on a sunny day (a Sunday perhaps) with a cold beer in hand just kicking back enjoying these tunes. The albums start does a good job in hooking you in and making you want more. ‘The Skies above Crete’ is the first darkish moment of the album. Storey has a yearning, heartfelt tone in his singing. If you entered the room halfway through this song you may be forgiven for thinking it was a Bob Dylan song with the whiney tone of Storey’s voice (in a GOOD Bob Dylan-ish way of course). One of my personal favourite tracks is the lazy ‘Footsteps of kings’. The track is a slow burning bluesy jam that reminds me of a Fly My Pretties tune. The song is a relaxing gem that would be perfect hangover music. The title track ‘Out of the soup’ chops and changes abit too much for my liking. It’s got that country knee slapping quality going on then it suddenly slams on the brakes into a calm chorus. I love it when the Mint Chicks do this jerkiness but it just seemed inappropriate here. It then goes into some psychedelic blues guitar that also distracts from the earlier promising knee slapping. It had me at the honky tonk knee slapping stage, this should have continued. I could have done with more of that. This is my only real gripe with the album and it’s not a major one. The last two tracks of the album start to get very murky and deep. Storey starts showing off his dark and brooding side on ‘Never turn your back on the sea’. It’s a wintery rainy day solo listen. This song is one of those ones that prompt angst and self-introspectiveness. If you’re not in a good frame of mind this is probably not one for you. The last track on the album ‘The Tempest’ is a whale of a song. Its starts of with some up beat rock, which really hooks you in before going into a led zep type blues guitar solo before tapering right of to a quiet solemn sadness. The end bit features some tear jerking blues guitar. This song is the kind you would hear in Christchurch’s Southern Blues Bar stained off your tits on whiskey, drowned in your own quiet self-pity at three in the morning. Simply beautiful, a good end to a good album. Every song on ‘Out of the soup’ is listenable and likeable. It’s the kind of album you can play from start to finish. You could chuck this on while you and your buddies’ are having a few drinks and be confident know one would complain. You wouldn’t get the cries of ‘what’s this bloody music?’ In fact I believe after a few tracks in you’ll probably have your friends enquiring who this guy is followed by comments like ‘this is quite good’ and ‘I could get into this’. If you’re a fan of the genre blues or the work of Fly My Pretties, Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan or Anna Coddington this album will be one for you. Enjoy some of this album with friends and beers and some of it with lonely solace.
Matt Hicks

Rip It Up

October/November 2009

Dylan Storey - Out Of The Soup (Border Music)
Out of the Soup is an album that will stay on high rotate for a long while. The man at the helm has crafted these tracks well and has a large troupe of other well known, respected musicians who have lent their voices and instruments to the project – making already tasty tunes just that little bit more mouth watering. Dylan has also given himself a few extra duties; he plays Rhodes, lap steel, accordion, melodica and mandolin and all of them extremely skillfully. The album really shows off Dylan’s accomplished songwriting style. Every song is memorable and singable. The title track stands out as something a little different to the rest and Caitlin Smith gets to have a wail at the end. Other favorites include ‘Skies Above Crete’ which has a great fast waltz feel and a New Zealand vibe, with “search for your Taniwha” included in the lyrics. ‘Sold It All Away’ uses a very clever technique, where the guitar doubles the vocal melody, which really sucks a listener in. The beauty of the track is made complete with great violin lines played by Sam Prebble. ‘Lies Make An Honest Man’ is outstanding and Dylan paints the picture well with his storytelling. The album closes with a very riff-alicious journey of a song, ‘The Tempest’, which has a huge dynamic range, very cool ‘jam’ parts and free sounding guitar solos that take you right to the end, where you unfortunately have to wake up out of your trance. Dylan Storey has captured some amazing songs on this album and all of them are an absolute pleasure to listen to.
Fleur Jack

Real Groove

DYLAN STOREY - OUT OF THE SOUP

Issue 186/November 2009

Auckland blues/country rocker’s poetic lyricism and adept musicianship continues to impress. The rollicking country rock and roll from Aucklander and one part of Reb Fountain’s band of Bandits bares his minds preoccupations in his third thoughtful album. Featuring Fountain as well as jazz singer Caitlin Smith, Jonny Barker and an array of other local talent, Out of the Soup is peopled with lyrics about existentialism, anti-religion, colourful politicians, WWII troops and reckless drivers in expensive cars (yes!). Storey almost touches on a formidable amount of literary lyricism, but never does it obscure the lucid musicianship and enjoyable laid-back feel of his songs. A popular and steady feature of Auckland’s music scene, his harsh, biting voice is reminiscent of another, very famous Dylan (see Lies Make an honest Man), while his guitar work and riffery reminds, on occasion of Neil Young (Sartre’s Hell). A potent poet, he reflects intelligently on his homeland, universal ideas and corruption atop pyschedelia-tinged blues, rock and country. It is one of the more unique and impressively intelligent of local works. Sarah Gooding.

Under The Radar

http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/utr/review/CID/211/N/Out-Of-The-Soup.utr

Out Of The Soup Dylan Storey 7.5 / 10 15th August 2009
One listen to this album was enough for Dylan Storey to quickly become one of my favourite rainy day musicians. I’m left kicking myself for not taking the advice of a hundred others to go and see him and his band while on tour earlier this year, and can only hope that he’ll grace us with some solo gigs around the country…soon. He takes inspiration from the likes of big names, Wilco, Lynyd Skynyrd and Ryan Adams giving him a bluesy-country ambience that is ridiculously addictive and commendable. With all this in mind he’s still managed to produce a kiwi sounding album with a homely feel which is so warm that all you’ll want to do is wrap up in a blanket, sit back and soak up all its goodness. First tracks, Travelling Salesman and Lies Make An Honest Man are guaranteed to melt your heart with Storey’s soulful vocals that really do share a story in themselves. He’s obviously seen his fair share of happiness and pain over the years which shines through from the very beginning of this carefully thought out album. Sarte’s Hell is definitely one of my most loved tunes from Out Of The Soup which drags out many beautiful summertime memories. It’s fresh with hints of sincerity, while Footsteps Of Kings takes on a feeling of sadness. Featuring backing vocals of the much admired Reb Fountain, the pair create a beautiful melody with a somewhat lonesome impression which is almost unsettling. One track that I’m not sold on is Out Of The Soup – it does not make a lot of sense and seems like it stops and starts in some places. It doesn’t fit with the other tracks on the album, and to be honest I would be quite content if it wasn’t included on this release at all. Thank goodness Sold It All Away takes us back to the Storey that we have become familiar with in previous tracks. Showing off his psychedelic side with the final tune on this disc – The Tempest we are taken on an eight minute journey filled with all kinds of goodies earlier unexplored. It’s here that you’ll come to appreciate Storey’s love of playing the guitar and is sure to have you in a trance. Overall - a soulful third album from one of our country’s finest musicians. Love it. Reviewed by: Amanda Ratcliffe

Einstein Music Journal

http://www.einsteinmusicjournal.co.nz/2009/08/26/dylan-storey-out-of-the-soup/

Dylan Storey- Out Of The Soup 8/10
Masterfully produced, worldly folk by Aucklander and Reb Fountain’s Bandit is self-released with input from luminaries including Fountain, Caitlin Smith, Clem White and Gareth Scott. The balladeer indulges his non-conformist views through abstract folk, psychedelic country and alternative blues rock. Dabbling in lyrical philosophy, songs like ‘Sartre’s Hell’ see the poet produce a mature outlook with his impeccably constructed songs. The players bring session-quality grandeur to the table, with bass and drums particularly flourishing and backing vocals adding a wispy prettiness to the strong and fearless songs. Dylan’s voice has a harsh and almost raspy quality that he pushes to the limits to pleasing effect. Sarah

Music.net.nz

http://www.muzic.net.nz/artists/1886/readreview/42717.html

Dylan Storey Out Of The Soup
This is the third CD Mr Storey has released since 2005, and reveals a man on a fascinating journey-in that he is a capable instrumentalist (with a players’ need to play) and someone who invests time and thought into his lyrical content. Add to that a somewhat idiosyncratic vocal style, and you have a very interesting “sum of the parts” indeed. Dylan’s own description of the sound, as “rock/blues/alt-country/psychedelic pop” is telling, and it useful to hang a great big 70s tag over the sound as well-traditional instrumentation abounds throughout. Slide guitar, Hammond organ, Mandolin, violin, guitar solos, “band workouts” (remember that phrase?) and nods in the direction of the big American influences from that time –Neil Young, The Band, the other Dylan. Half-time feels, a waltz and a general down-tempo mood also touch with that era. And this is an organic experience too. A look though the past sees a great deal of personnel comings and goings but plainly flexibility is perceived as not just acceptable, but a strength, and the songs on this album have a snapshot quality of the “present live band” working through the material together. And the band is tight, focussed and very present (with strong contributions from Reb Fountain), changing time signatures, tempos and dynamics while never losing control of the groove. High points include 'Out Of The Soup' which moves through some startling changes- from up tempo country (oldsters’ might recognise ‘the train’) to a fiery half –time finish (with some great ensemble work), and the first part of 'The Tempest' which has a monster groove. These moments balance 'Never Turn Your Back On The Sea' which sits in a dynamic no-mans-land and perhaps is too laid back for its own good, or the end of 'The Tempest' which is a great jam and would be thoroughly enjoyable live (this is a band that likes to play, after all) but in a recorded form seems to lack direction. A compelling combination of elements, then, and clearly a captured moment in time. One wonders where things will go next. Review by Trevf

Cheese on Toast

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/user/My%20Documents/OutoftheSoup/Reviews/Cheese%20on%20Toast.htm

DYLAN STOREY - Out of the Soup (Self-released)
A unique voice in New Zealand music, Dylan Storey makes music that's as traditional in its 70's-esque, blues drenched rock as it is clearly now, and clearly from our fair land. While there's no doubt here that Storey is a competent musician (he's travelled the world with music as his breadwinner) it seems that lyrics are equally important to his songs. Challenging religion, philosophies, social norms and WWII stories told to him by his grandfather, and evolution (the inspiration for the album name) are all part of what makes Out of the Soup set apart from other records in the genre. MC

The Package

- December 14th - 2007 (Previous Album "Bones")

The Dylan Storey Band - Bones
Here's something different – The Dylan Storey Band – featuring the titular character on guitar and vocals (alongside Chris Dunn, bass; Cole Goodley, drums; Billy Squire, Hammond organ, piano and Fender Rhodes) are an Auckland-based combo doing the retro thing; but it's not all angular riffs and post-punk strutting. No, no, no, this album sees a return to the jam-band sound as popularized by The Allman Brothers and The Grateful Dead. But, it's all nicely controlled as well – so we don't head out in to the unctuous seas of The Dave Matthews Band, nor do we have to tolerate 20-minute guitar/organ duels. At the heart of this album are some very nice, sharp, deceptively simple songs (Best And The Worst, Django Song, Old Soldiers and the title track particularly); compositions that recall work by Robin Trower, Elvis Costello and mid-70s Dylan – or, in more modern terms, there are traces of Wilco (especially on the purloined chord-sequence that propels Old Soldiers) and The Arcade Fire. Textures are layered nicely over the songs, but nothing feels too deliberate. Essentially this is the organic sound of a band being a band: jamming songs out, fleshing riffs and ideas in to hook-laden compositions. No exercise in style over content; here in fact it's quite the opposite – the form dictates and so there are excursions in to acoustic slide blues, Jethro Tull-esque folk-rock and modern alternative music that draws on a blues-rock heritage…the band Gomez comes to mind. What I liked most was the fact that you can feel the distinct lack of posturing. And for once that's a really good thing.
Simon Sweetman