''Topaz'' is an album by American musician

Israel Nash Israel Nash (born January 5, 1981) is the recording and performing stage name moniker of American singer, songwriter, and guitarist Israel Nash Gripka. Career Originally from Missouri, Nash moved to New York City in 2006. Nash performed in clubs ...

, released on March 12, 2021, via Loose Music, Desert Folklore Music, and Soundly Music. The album, recorded in Nash's Plum Creek Sound studio in Texas, was first announced in December 2020, subsequent to the release of lead single "Canyonheart".

Reception

Review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave ''Topaz'' a weighted average score of 81/100, based on 4 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". ''Glide Magazine''s Jim Hynes called the album "less dense" than Nash's previous release '' Lifted'', and said the album has a "meaty rock foundation with touches of psychedelia and skylark folk that fans have come to love", but "now with soulful heft that nods to

Muscle Shoals Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the populati ...

and Memphis, which in one sense, makes it a bit more tangible than his previous work. Yet it remains moody and vast, cohesive and compelling." For ''Americana Highways'', Andrew Gulden wrote that the album "doubles down on ash'sexpansive aura while maintaining a dreamy-folk intimacy." ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' Steve Horowitz wrote that "the songs capture the exas Hill Country'slandscape's barrenness in a manner reminiscent of 1970s

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

records or

prog-rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

of the 1980s where the vastness of the mind was recapitulated in the spaces between the musical notes -- in this case, in service of cosmic

country rock Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...

." The ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

s Ellen Peirson-Hagger, in a review focused on the album's political lyrical content, wrote that "Nash leans into clichés of the country genre, as if towing the line of just how many of its tropes he can get away with using while he figures out his place in the culture", while expressing disappointment in saying "However, I can't help but think how much more zest these tracks would have were they more direct in their lyrical intent." Per ''Uncut''s Andrew Mueller, the album is "a fine racket" of "sumptuous

country-soul Southern soul is a type of soul music that emerged from the Southern United States. The music originated from a combination of styles, including blues (both 12 bar and jump), country, early R&B, and a strong gospel influence that emanated from ...

, leaning heavily on the brass, most obviously evocative of the more ruminative records of

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

, or the rockier edges of

Rodney Crowell Rodney Crowell (born August 7, 1950) is an American musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music. Crowell has had five number one singles on Hot Country Songs, all from his 1988 album '' Diamonds & Dirt''. ...

", and "a languid and gently uplifting work" which is "at its best when its angriest."

Year-end lists

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals, guitar, production, engineering *

Adrian Quesada Adrian Quesada is an American musician, producer, and songwriter. He is best known for his work with Black Pumas. Quesada is an eight-time Grammy nominee and won Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album as a member of Grupo Fantasma in 2011. Early l ...

– electric guitar, co-production * Edward Brailiff – piano * Josh Fleischmann – drums, percussion * Scott Davis – bass * Roger Sollenberger – electric guitar * Derek Phelps – trumpet * Joe Woullard – baritone saxophone * Jason Frey – tenor saxophone * Eric Swanson –

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

, electric guitar, harmonies * Sam Powell – piano, organ, synth * Curtis Roush – electric guitar * Ed Jarusinsky – drums, percussion * Seth Kauffman – drums, percussion, bass * Jacob Rodriguez – baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone * Rockyanne Bullwinkel – background vocals * Jenny Carson – background vocals * Taylor Torres – engineering * Matt Gerhard – engineering * Kevin Ratterman – mixing, mastering

Charts

References

{{reflist 2021 albums Israel Nash albums Psychedelic music albums Loose Music albums Albums produced by Adrian Quesada Albums produced by Israel Nash Albums recorded in a home studio