I don't want to pigeonhole this record; Kris Racer lacks the pink hair and Hawaiian shirts of a Chris Conley or the weird Ricky Martin-esque bravado of a Chris Carrabba. Racer, (or Narunatvanich, his actual name) is a Midwesterner, hailing from the prairie state, Illinois. And though his geographic location doesn't quite converge with the majority of "pop punkers gone solo" that populate the musical horizon today, his music does a pretty good job in emulating it.
Racer plays acoustic music, somehow balancing the leftover pop-punk sensibilities with typical singer songwriter types. The songs on Has a Banner Year range from three and a half minutes to about four and a half. The opener, "Banner Year" isn't the best measure of the record, Racer croons over a single, strummed guitar, the song is fairly sparse lyrically and ends at about the three and a half mark. Some of the songs have the upbeat, jangly tempo and energy of early Dashboard Confessional songs; it's on these tracks that Racer shines. The choruses are catchy; the songs don't overstay their welcome. Less can be said for some of the slower tracks. Racer's whine can test your patience after a while. The melodies lack the conviction or audacity to make them really stand out. Part of the fun of artists like Racer is the certainty they convey, as if they've been able to communicate a journal entry in their music. But this boldness can be overbearing, and the timid nature in Racer's music is more true to the themes throughout. I will say that the lyrical content is much more interesting than the self-indulgent pity fests of similar sounding artists. Racer's voice mirrors the self-portraiture in the songs, uncertain but talented. Racer plays his music the way it should sound. Despite the hesitancy in his voice, the songs are infectious. Racer seems to embrace the idea of being a "twenty-something," stuck in limbo between younger years and the inevitable surrender into the working world.
The guitar hooks sound great on the faster tracks. The background drums are just that, background. The guitar melodies are the mainstay here. Racer gets bonus points for the nice plinking piano on "This is Your Emergency." There are six songs so it's a bit hard to sense any progression, still the release kept my interest. Racer has managed to create a nice balance between the hook based driving soundtrack and the more lyrically propelled slower tracks. I'd give Racer a little while to perfect the slow song. If you're looking for a digression from the oversaturated, sometimes over confident, singer/songwriter acoustic market, Racer might be your guy.
