On his new album, Zach Top perfectly captures a country sound uniting multiple ages free of compromise and contrived deviation. Twangy guitars inject variable rhythm alongside smart insertions of pedal steel and fiddle. The fact that this formula is pitched right at the heart of the mainstream gives credence to a movement arguing that progression can still possess a heritage dressing. Rich vocals own the moment whether an upbeat tempo ushering in hip swaggering moves or slower bouts of contemplative soul searching. With lauded attributes locked in, curious attention turns to the themes courting the writing as AIN’T IN IT FOR MY HEALTH is stacked with plenty to ponder in its hefty fifteen track collection.
Gender split is rife in country music and Zach Top doesn’t sit on the fence with his second album. The male perspective is ingrained across the record as themes flip from introspective soul searching to relationships with the opposite sex in a variety of guises. Most of the content is respectful with only the odd cringeworthy lyric wholly submerged by the conveyance of clever messaging and well-crafted stories. Although the themes arise from a narrow template, you get behind the sentiment of the straight white male, and in several songs, one embedded into a life of making music.
The musician’s perspective fires its volleys in five tracks. The high quality picked ‘Guitar’ opens the album with Top paying homage to the stringed wand that takes over the life of many a country artist. This scene-setting song creates the right tone within an agreeable sound ethos. Late in the running order ‘South of Sanity’ accrues sympathy of a travelling musician getting dumped from a wife back home while on the road. Several locations depict the expanse of the touring horizon in sync with chorus metaphors probing the hurt. The irony of ‘Country Boy Blues’ in the final throes is that a record like this may alter the direction of sensing little real country music exists down Broadway. Temptations along a musician’s highway are laid out in ‘Livin’ the Wrong Things’. Top closes this addictive album with an outpouring of relief in ‘Honky Tonk Til It Hurts’ sealing the deal on a record exploring its subjects well and expressing it with a supreme sound.
In addition to the aforementioned road break up song, there are four other explicit interactions with the opposite sex. ‘Flip Flop’ adds humour and a multiple play on words in the midst of being well and truly rinsed by a fleeting relationship. The beach connotation with hints of a Caribbean backbeat is a tested country formula. ‘She Makes’ is a respectful homage reflecting a thoughtful side, while ‘Like I Want You’ is more explicit in proclaiming love. ‘Tightrope’, one of the more uptempo offerings, bemoans a colleague changed by being in a relationship. This is a relatable song far away from the American context within the lyrics.
Every traditional country collection addresses loneliness and ‘Splitsville’ is one of the tracks lifting the album into the realm of an adhering listen. Male challenges are further addressed in ‘When You See Me’ and ‘Livin’ a Lie’ where emotions sway between positively bouncing back and sad acts of pretence. ‘Between the Ditches’ is another song strong on the metaphors with ultimately being grateful for staying on the right path.
The final two songs bringing up the full complement are alternative takes on lifestyle. ‘Good Times & Tan Lines’ purveys positivity and despite an iffy reference in the title generally behaves itself in appropriateness. ‘I Know a Place’ is pure escapism throwing shades of romantic idealism into a world of grit and realism.
A final take on this strong album is so many of the songs are ripe for a response from the indirect subjects especially the female ones. Zach Top and his writing team have expertly portrayed a viewpoint often with elegance and sincerity but an alternative one is crying out to be expressed. Some of the country’s most eminent songwriters could rise to the occasion and spin a response. This left field conclusion doesn’t detract from AIN’T IN IT FOR MY HEALTH surfacing as a top notch country album of real substance. If Zach Top lives up to the blurb billing then a genuine talent will be at the helm setting the agenda.
