Do you want to write for Ink 19?
Ashton Allen
Dewdrops
Livewire
Has Elliott Smith really been gone so long that it's okay for someone to assume all of his songwriting characteristics? I vote no. Ashton Allen votes yes. On Dewdrops the singer/songwriter cozies up to Smith trademarks like double-tracked hushed vocals, insistent strummed acoustic guitar and an overall baroque-pop sound. Tracks like "Counting the Cost" are almost indistinguishable arrangement-wise from something off Either/Or. How this sits with you will depend largely on how much you value a line of separation between similar artists. Of course, Allen's aping doesn't stop at Smith but continues through to George Harrison ("If You Leave") and Sufjan Stevens ("Better Than I Know" and "Prodigal Son"). Only "Steven's Song" really feels like a comfortable, non-derivative fit, its soaring horns harkening back to a '70s Vegas act. If this review seems unnecessarily bitter, it's because it's obvious Allen has songwriting chops, he just needs to find a more personal style to express it. Still, I'll take this, warts and all, over another lackluster John Mayer interpretation any day.
