Barista - Open Sesame Vol 2: Press Rewind

Barista opens its Open Sesame Vol 2: Press Rewind EP with "Haze," which is a sonic dead ringer for Jackson Browne's "Running On Empty." It's not that SoCal singer/songwriter, however. The coffee server-like Barista is actually a rock project from far away Istanbul. The Browne soundalike is Bahadir Han Eryilmaz, who comes off like he's been soaking up Southern California sun his whole life. Close your eyes, though, and you can well imagine hearing this music coming out of your car speakers while driving along Pacific Coast Highway sometime in the '70s.

To create his authentic throwback-sounding release Eryilmaz has assembled a heavyweight cast of supporting musicians. These players include Jesse Siebenberg (Supertramp, Kenny Loggins, Brian Duffy (Guns N' roses, Velvet Revolver) and Lydia Salnikova (Kenny Rogers). Perhaps most significantly, the project's drummer is Simon Phillips.

In the grand scheme of things, Open Sesame Vol 2: Press Rewind is merely the beginning of Barista's ambitious recording plans. It is the second set in a five-release opus, in fact. Only one of these six tracks features more than a one-word title ("Nothing Left). The album's highlight is "Sweet," which finds Eryilmaz expressing regrets over how he's behaved in past relationships.

Across the board (especially due to the high caliber talent playing on this album), all these songs are played extremely well. Yes, it can sometimes be easy to spot some of these influences - especially with all the clues that match Jackson Browne's name to "Haze." However, much of this music references the glory days of Southern California soft-rock, and at the end of the day, there's nothing at all wrong with that.

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