Indiana Music: Chase Coy -"Picturesque"

Chase Coy , a smart 19-year-old singer-songwriter from Greenwood, Indiana, will release his major label debut Picturesque on June 1st. Written and produced by Coy, it’s a quiet, poetic piece of acoustic-and-string sprinkled music. It’s best moments ring of a McCartney sensibility. Not comparing the two artists’ careers; simply noting that the template for mature-beyond-your-years songs was created by the Beatle, and there is a thinking, searching pop quality to the upcoming album.
Coy is a busy boy. He’s already released a pair of albums, Dear Juliet and Look How Far We’ve Come, and some iTunes songs. This year, Coy’s catalog tracks were compiled into a single digital album available at iTunes, entitled Where the Road Parts.
As Taylor Swift has built her career of singing to 15-25 year-old girls, the Picturesque album would seem to aim for a similar demo, but to guys – though the girls will find reasons to listen to the words, since the muse of Coy is his girlfriend Mallory Koons. The subject matter gives a soft, introspective side to most of the songs. Nothing rocks. The drums are a surprise when they show up. It’s not a party album; the songs are produced to highlight lyrics. The album is unlike anything I have heard in a long time. It’s poetry, set to muted music.
Coy is upfront about the origin of the songs.
On his MySpace page last September, he posted that Mallory “is the source of every love song I’ve written in the past 1 year, 2 months, and 17 days, plus a good number of songs before that too. She is the single most amazing person I have ever met in my life and I am going to marry her”.
The best of the songs is a duet with Colbie Caillat on “If the Moon Fell Down”. Together, they make the relationship song work. “Who’s To Say” has some of “Blackbird” qualities, and “Anniversary” has simple string lines that rise to support the lyrics,
The kid is young – his music will grow. There is a lot of untamed intelligence is Coy’s head. For him to connect to a larger audience, his music will need to catch up with his words. He was on the road with singer/songwriter/guitarist Jason Reeves in May, and heads out with piano pop man Brendan James throughout June, and would do well to pay attention. James, through age and experience, is a more forceful version of Coy. Brilliant pairing for fans of young, melodic pop songwriters. Nice for Coy to get the exposure, experience, and the opportunity to grow a fanbase while still working to evolve into a mature artist. He’s getting to play some legendary venues, including LA’s Roxy and Atlanta’s Eddie’s Attic, to name two. As a 19-year old writing his own songs, he’s doing pretty damn good.