SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/tjdoylemusic/lullabysingle 

“Lullaby” has got a lot of traditional folk qualities to it, but there needn’t be any debate about its stylistic virtues; they’re 100% modern and made for today’s complicated acoustic fan. I’ve seen a lot of growth out of TJ Doyle in the last ten years, and I must say that this is one of the more mature compositions that he’s released in the latter half of the 2010s. I haven’t any doubts as to whether or not the next decade has just as much in store for him as the present one has, and if this is any indication of his future plans as a songwriter, the best has really yet to come. 

Source: rasputinsmusicreviews.blogspot.com
by: Trace Whittaker

The track has a mid-tempo pace that never threatens to overwhelm listeners and high quality production rendering each instrument with clarity and snap. The guitar work, in particular, is well served by the song’s sonic architecture. Dave Matthews Band alum Tim Pierce takes on a dual role through the track; much of his playing during the first half of the track and verses serves the song without ever commanding the spotlight, but he does step out later in the performance with some coherent and melodic lead guitar that puts an exclamation point on the recording.

Drummer David Raven is another key factor in the song’s success. He plays a straight forward style for much of the song, but spices his playing up with occasional and unobtrusive fills that add a little rhythmic flavor to the song. Moves like this prove, without a doubt, that it is often small details that help make a song stand out. The remaining musical performances are just as key, in the own way, but Pierce and Raven are the stand out players who help give the track a signature feel.

Doyle’s voice, tinged with a hint of the nasal, is cut from the tradition of folk rock singers and roots rockers like Dylan, Tom Petty, and Neil Young. The decision to apply post-production effects to his singing is a bit of a misstep; Doyle’s more than capable of carrying the track without any post-production gloss. His vocal phrasing underlines the intelligence driving his lyrics and conveys his concern for the issues explored in the words. His voice is full of emotion and feeling without ever lapsing into melodrama.

The track runs a little long at five minutes thirty eight seconds, it could have been a minute shorter and still carried the same impact, but it isn’t a flaw that irrecoverably mars the performance. TJ Doyle’s “Ancient Wind” is reflective, engaging on multiple levels, and shows that this songwriter continues to make great strides a decade on into his career. There are definitely no signs of slowing down. Instead, TJ Doyle sounds every bit as inspired and committed to his art as he did in 2009.

Source: indiebandguru.com
by: Scott Carlito

Doyle’s voice has invited comparisons to icons like Neil Young, but I think it is closer in spirit to Tom Petty or Bob Dylan, if we must have reference points. His vocal is invested with a smattering of echo that brings a little extra atmosphere to the performance but, undoubtedly, it won’t have any such affectations in live performance. He does an excellent job of elevating the song’s fine lyric several notches without ever striking an overwrought note and his voice has great interplay with the song’s instrumentation.

SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/tjdoylemusic/ancient-wind-single

The aforementioned lyrics are written with an economical eye, but nonetheless sparkle with intelligence and emotional weight. I like how he poses many lines in the form of questions; it would be all too easy for him to adopt a strident point of view for this song but Doyle resists the temptation to do so and, instead, puts a great deal of effort into making the lyrical material reflect his abiding concern for the song’s subject.

The musical arrangement is another highlight. It has the feel of being recorded “live” with all of the musicians sharing the room and laying down the track. Doyle and his collaborators are obviously well acquainted with each other and there’s an effortless give and take between them throughout the recording that makes this song sound easy rather than belabored and sweated over. Guitarist Tim Pierce is an important ingredient in what makes the song work so well and his solo near the conclusion is one of the track’s high points overall.

I am a big fan of the song’s overall sound. Doyle and his cohorts have obviously spared nothing in attempting to capture this track in a professional and high quality manner; he may be an “indie” artist, but there’s nothing about the song’s sound that strikes me as “indie”. “Ancient Wind” is the latest high point in a musical and songwriting career that has seen Doyle building a greater and greater reputation with each successive release. He is an artist with a great deal of nuance, but likewise one committed to delivering his message in a clear and unambiguous fashion. I look forward to hearing more music from Doyle and applaud his efforts.

Source: razorfishreviews.blogspot.com
by: Heather Savage

The steadiness of the song’s message is one of the song’s greatest elements for me. I cannot say enough about a songwriter willing to take on such an important social issue yet unwilling to step up into some soapbox and wag a figurative hand at his listeners and the world at large. The intelligence guiding “Ancient Wind” and its lyric is a hallmark of Doyle’s music and it has reached another peak with this single. There’s no bloat dragging this lyric down; Doyle never uses two or three words to convey a point when one will do and his focus is apparent throughout the entirety of the track.

SOUNDCLOUD: soundcloud.com/tjdoylemusic/ancient-wind-single

His singing deepens the impact of the lyrical message. Doyle takes great care with his phrasing, dragging lines out just enough so they linger in listener’s memory, and invests his vocal with emotion and palpable concern. This isn’t some gimmick for Doyle to garner public attention; you cannot listen to this song and its words and not register his deep and long-standing concern for one of the most important issues facing mankind today. He knows the stakes are impossibly high and the lyrics reflect that urgency in a subtle and artful way.

The band does an exemplary job of surrounding that message with a first class musical presentation. The rhythm section, led by drummer David Raven, grounds the track well and pushes it forward with just enough force, but never too hard. Doyle’s own acoustic guitar playing provides a constant undercurrent for the performance, but his six string partner guitarist Tim Pierce brings a lot to the recording with his ornamental guitar fills during the verses, occasional lead flourishes, and a solo near the track’s end that provides a crowning musical touch for the song as a whole.

TJ Doyle’s “Ancient Wind” is the latest five star track in a career that has few, if any, misses. I usually disdain or dislike songwriting with a social agenda feeling that such concerns often sound dated within a few years as the world moves forward, but global warming isn’t an issue that will date anytime soon and Doyle writes about it in such an artful way that I can’t help but admire what he’s accomplished.

Source: imaai.org
by: Clay Burton

Doyle and his band have toured throughout Southern California and large portions of North America, performing at renowned venues such as The Whiskey and The Roxy, while simultaneously placing songs at the top of the charts, including hits like “Anonymous” and “Unconditional,” as well as attaining the paramount spot on Radio Indie’s Top 40 Chart, with both “Everything” and “Living In Our Dream.”

With his retro-flavored sound, harking back to the ‘60’s, and his inimitable voice, often likened to Neil Young, Doyle’s tasty musical concoctions deliver authentic tantalizing savors completely unlike the pop-rock presently ruling contemporary playlists.

“Ancient Wind” opens on elegantly shimmering guitars flowing into an indie-pop-rock melody suffused with creamy SoCal colors reminiscent of early Eagles, Poco, and America. Layers of soft gleaming textures interweave, forming a beautiful tapestry of sonic surfaces, undulating and sinuous. The measured rhythm rides a mellow yet cavernous bassline and finessed percussion, imbuing the tune with a cashmere progression, both charming and alluring.

Doyle’s deliciously nasal tenor glides on velvety tones overhead, infusing the lyrics with tantalizing wisps of devout timbres. It’s a wonderful voice full of subtle nuances and vibrant luminous sonic gestures.

The combination of thrumming resonance, glowing jangly guitar luster, and Doyle’s elevated tones fills the song with burnished grace and lingering coruscations.

Gorgeously wrought, “Ancient Wind” decants scrumptious rolling hues riding a rhythm rippling with drenching energy, as the voice of T.J. Doyle provides the focus.

Source: tattoo.com
by: Randall Radic

Doyle’s new single, the melodic “Lullaby,” is a product of the old school fundamentals of pop music, and while it doesn’t necessarily break the mold in terms of inventiveness, it’s unquestionably among the most sensuously accessible indie tracks to see release this summer.

“Lullaby” has a slick pop stylization, but the vibe of the music is really earthy and uncorrupted by the robotic reverberations of artificiality. The guitars have a classic rock feel, as does the vocal, but the rhythm of the song is a little harder to categorize by traditional genre standards. There’s an almost jazzy sway to the percussion, which contrasts with the slow grind of the bassline just significantly enough to make the ascent in the chorus rather tense. The underlying angst in Doyle’s voice never finds a complete release; instead, we listen to his words through this introspective filtration, further allowing us to feel like we’re seeing things from his perspective.

I would have adjusted the EQ on the string parts to make them pop a little more than they do in this instance, but I can understand why Doyle wanted to keep them situated in the backdrop as opposed to the forefront of the track. This is an impressively multilayered mix, and while I can’t be certain how long it took to construct it to perfection, it would definitely appear as though it was painstakingly arranged as to give every element in the instrumental fabric of “Lullaby” a fair share of the spotlight. The guitars are the bedrock beneath these beats, and from Doyle’s point of view, they serve to extend the narrative in his lyrics as opposed to producing their own.

He’s not a household name, but TJ Doyle is acting like a legit superstar in this searing new single. “Lullaby” bears a surreal bend that makes it unlike any other material that I’ve heard from this artist since he first arrived on the scene over ten years ago, and I think that if he explores the depth of that surrealism in his follow-up to this single, he could find even more success than he has in the past. This is one of his best vocal performances so far, and a definite hit for pop and folk fans alike this summer.

Source: gashouseradio.com
by: Sebastian Cole

The intimacy level goes through the roof as he sings the chorus with an aching, organic emotionality, and it soon becomes clear (to all who were curious) why Doyle’s latest release has been getting so much buzz from American folk/pop critics this summer. “Lullaby” is a heartwarming, harmony-driven ballad in an age of augmented noise, synthetic melodies and unfelt lyricism.

There’s no denying the influence that Neil Young had on TJ Doyle’s work after listening to this song, but I wouldn’t say that this single is strictly an homage in the least. If you ask me, there are too many alternative facets to the construction of the hook here, and moreover, the delivery of the lyrics, for “Lullaby” to be considered a refashioned take on Neil’s classic model.

SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/tjdoylemusic/lullabysingle

Doyle goes out of his way to put an emphasis on the textures in his instrumentation in this track, and the master mix ends up favoring the relationship between the different components more than it ever does his directive vocal. This is a very contemporary folk song, and calling it anything but an original slice of magic would be doing a great disservice to the artist who created it.

In the last few years, TJ Doyle has really come into his own as a composer, and I love what he’s doing with his lyrical approach right now in particular. He’s got such an honest, vulnerable tone here, and you can tell right from the start that he’s being as real as a singer/songwriter can be from within the confines of a recording studio. Doyle may not have caught fire among mainstream audiences with his conceptual early work ala 2009’s One True Thing, but he’s definitely making a splash with fans across the board with “Lullaby,” which is a single that I would describe as being his most important released to date.

Source: indiemusicreviews.net
by: Jamie Morse

As captivating as his tender vocal is, the string play is the real star of the show here, with every elegant strand of melodicism that it emits forging a mood that not even the most adept poetry could convey. The cosmetics of this track are very well-polished, but beneath the sparkle of the master mix lies a solid composition that arguably raises the bar for both Doyle and his peers this summer.

Doyle’s voice is warm and inviting from start to finish here, yet it’s full of an aching emotionality that is reminiscent of late 70’s Neil Young. The rhythm of the percussion is really stylish and has an almost cosmopolitan feel, which balances out the classic tone of the guitar excellently but stops short of washing the song in urban textures that would diminish its enticing organic vibe. To some extent, “Lullaby” is as steeped in old school stylization as it is forward-thinking alternative songwriting, which isn’t a combination that you find very often in 2019.

The drum track in this single is intoxicatingly streamlined, and at times makes the pendulous tempo of the harmonies feel a little more urgent than it would have otherwise. Nothing about “Lullaby” feels forced or inauthentic, but there’s definitely some raw experimentation here that might draw the ire of more conservative folk/rock enthusiasts. Personally, I think that the contrast within this song adds a layer of intrigue that wholly sets Doyle’s latest look apart from anything his contemporaries in the mainstream are and were it not as eclectically constructed, I don’t know that it would be nearly as spellbinding a piece.

Fans of folk and alternative pop alike can’t beat “Lullaby” this July, and I have a feeling that this single could go a long way towards establishing an audience for TJ Doyle outside of the underground pool that he’s become so prominent in these last three years. This single has immense crossover appeal, and in an era that has become increasingly divisive among artists and the scenes that they call their own, it’s nice to see a songwriter developing a sound that doesn’t adhere to any restrictive parameters whatsoever. The bottom line? “Lullaby” offers some tonality from an undisputedly proven master of melody, and it’s a hot pick for any audiophile this month.

Source: theindiesource.com
by: Anne Hollister

The guitars reverberate into the atmosphere for what feels like an eternity, but the black and white percussion is affording their airy harmonies a bit of much-needed consistency as we slip deeper and deeper into the vortex of emotion forming before us. Doyle starts to sing in his trademark-soft vocal, and in his we’re transported to a peaceful dreamscape that will become impossible for us to escape once the chorus comes into focus. “Lullaby” is a striking ballad with a slightly electrified backend, and for longtime TJ Doyle fans, it more than lives up to the high standard that his material has been known to exceed.

The hook in this track is ultra-surreal, and I would even go as far as to say that this is one of Doyle’s most cerebral songs to date. There’s a spacey feel to this arrangement, but “Lullaby” never devolves into avant-gardism; interestingly enough, the instrumentation embraces the eccentric while the vocal remains tethered to a cut and dry, vintage pop/rock sound. It makes for a psychedelic-tinged duality that I would love to hear Doyle explore a little more in the future, but for the time being, I don’t think there’s an argument to be made against this being his most progressive-minded piece of music to see widespread release.

“Lullaby” reaches its conclusion much in the same way that it comes to life in the first place; in a chilling amalgamation of instrumental textures that collide into one another for a brooding, and genuinely expressive, finale. I hadn’t been following TJ Doyle very closely in the late 2010s, but I have to admit that what he’s doing in this single is a creative quantum leap from where he started in 2009’s One True Thing, which gave us a rather limited sampling of what he’s capable of producing as a solo performer. He’s definitely come into his own here, and furthermore, he’s refined all of the skills that have made his style the juggernaut that it is today.

Source: musicexistence.com
by: Loren Sperry

Over the course of the track T.J. Doyle brings in acid fried country, an indie rock sensibility, with a psychedelic twang all into a vivid worldview. Full of life T.J. Doyle touches upon the easy-going spirit of Granddaddy throughout the whole of the piece. A grand journey unfurls one that feels so vivid. The attention to detail incorporates a whole plethora of instruments into the mix, from the gentle keyboards to the dreamy guitars. With a sweeping symphonic take the piece simply stuns. By far though the song’s lyrics serve as the very center of it all. Yearning for love they have a poetic beauty to them.

Stream – https://soundcloud.com/tjdoylemusic/lullabysingle

Not a moment is wasted for T.J. Doyle allows the groove to establish itself immediately. His voice has a reassuring presence to it. Sung with such earnestness his honesty helps to guide the song along in the best way possible. Letting things time their time he embodies a fully lived life. Guitars intermingle in such glorious ways. For the final stretch of the work he lets the song waft off into a true dreamworld, one that goes for a great tenderness. Becoming a true stream of consciousness, he ensures that it all has a peaked intense quality to it.

A sense of reflection permeates the whole of the extended trip of T.J. Doyle’s “Lullaby”.

Source: skopemag.com
by: Skope