Maybe it’s his raspy Midwest vocals—a voice that knew smoke-filled bars where they play the blues—coupled with lyrics reflecting on restless memories, but David Fitzpatrick conjures the best of mid-’70s Bob Seger. The steady mid-tempo rock of Parachutes in Hurricanes, the first solo album by the veteran Milwaukee musician, would not have been out of place on Beautiful Loser or Night Moves.
“That’s really hard to answer,” Fitzpatrick says when asked about inspiration. “I’ve been influenced by generations of songwriters. I’m the youngest of nine children and each one of my brothers and sisters had different music eras and tastes.” Their record collections left a mark, he feels—everyone from Buddy Holly to Mick Jagger/Keith Richards, Lou Reed and Elvis Costello through Joe Strummer and Paul Westerberg.
Recorded by Ric Probst and Gary Tanin, Parachutes in Hurricanes is endowed with sonic consistency yet flexibility for distinctive arrangements on each track. “It feels more like a soundtrack or a concept record though I would be hard put to explain the concept,” Fitzpatrick says. “The album is about disillusionment and getting older. Nothing dramatic, just real life with a silver lining. And that whatever you are going through—good or bad—you are not alone. You’re human along with billions of others just like you. To me the most important thing that music can do is show us that in any situation you can imagine, we are not alone.”
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