Some songwriters report that when angst disappears from their lives, their musical inspiration goes, too. Clearly, that’s not the case for Sharif. The folk-experimental artist, who divides his time between Arlington and Los Angeles, may have grabbed a lot of attention with “Kisses and Lies,” his “break up” album, but he’s over the heartache now. Lucky for us, his music is not only intact but soaring as evidenced on his latest recording, “Almost There.”
“My songs are [usually] about what is going down in my life. The last record was about one girl, a break-up record,” he said. “The songs were sad, about ‘I miss my girlfriend.’ Those type of songs tend to be more country….Now I have all these crushes to write about.”
| Onstage |
| Sharif |
| Date: 9:30 p.m. Wednesday |
| Venue: Ragtime, 1345 N. Courthouse Road, Arlington |
| Info: Free; 703-243-4003; ragtimerestaurant.com |
On his latest recording set to be released September 6, Sharif moved his sound away from the country-Americana genre and landed more squarely in romantic pop. The songs are light and airy, much like the first feelings of love.
There are also some lighter-hearted approaches to the dating scene, too. The delightful track “I Don’t Miss You,” finds Sharif singing about his lack of mourning for candles, tofu and the “Sex and the City” characters who a woman — who he says is a montage instead of one person — might enjoy.
The lyrics for the song came to him in the middle of the night, he said, and it seemed natural to set them to a spritely tune.
“I try not to dwell too much on what type of song I’m trying to make, ” said Sharif, noting that moving from Americana sound wasn’t a planned exercise. “I was really trying to do a bunch of things on record, just trying to see what I was capable of rather than trying to stick to one genre.”
Spurring his creativity was a trip to Manchester, England to record the album with producer Tim Bradshaw, keyboardist and guitarist for John Mayer and David Gray.
“It did open up [my creativity]. Just the whole feeling of England and its history with so many amazing bands like the Beatles and Led Zepplin,” he said. “Tim and I have known each other for years. He’s a fantastic musician and we played everything on the record ourselves. We experimented a lot. It was just a really cool, laid-back time.”
