Rick McGuire’s Dust & Tears Offers an Open Invitation to Come Inside

Rick McGuire’s Dust & Tears is a soft rock album with a hint of Nashville sound.  The steady guitar and soft drum are often accented with keyboard tones that vary from experimental spacey background whirs to classic piano accompaniment.  McGuire’s semi- husky voice and simple story telling is mildly reflective of a Bruce Springsteen style.   

The album opens with “Breathe,” a song of desperation and longing, telling of how “I wait here for you, alone in the dark.”  The upbeat rhythm of this no-frills music would be something to play on the jukebox during an after work beer with the gang.  The fixed sound of the album becomes more expressive with “Beauty in Lies,” in which McGuire sings, “I didn’t know what I didn’t know, but she didn’t know that I was in love.”  At the height of this song, the music jumps in accordance with his surprise and strengthens as he speaks of his “spinning, falling, falling,” then slows as he catches his breath, asking you to “hear the beauty in lies.”

Several songs involve melancholy tales, but the light guitar and cheerful keyboard add a hint of hope and forgiveness.  McGuire ends with “Come Inside,” a beckoning song involving piano and a bit of blues guitar.  Dust & Tears wraps up similarly to how it began, with an open invitation, “waiting for you to come inside.”

~Myriah Christine, Contributor

Related posts:

1. Amy Sciarretto and Rick Florino
2. Kingdom of Sorrow Announces Release Date For Behind The Blackest Tears
3. Smashing Pumpkins Holding Open Auditions for Bass Player