-- By Alex Herding

It sneaks up on you.

When you first hear a song like "Kewlspace" from Jason Burke's Swimming CD, your initial reaction might be "ok, another bluesy hard rock song." But as the song plays along and you start bobbing your head, you will gradually notice a feeling that something is different. Listeners trained in music may even figure it out: the song is in 6/4 time, not the 4/4 time that is typical of rock. The phrasing is all different -- yet it works.

Or maybe "Doc" was the first tune you heard. The lyrics sounded sort of interesting, maybe even somewhat familiar...wait, isn't this the story behind Stephen King's "The Shining?"

It is subtle dimensions like these sprinkled throughout Jason's music that makes it unique, different from the rest. Yes, technically the music could be described as “progressive hard rock,” a mix of traditional guitar-oriented rock with more progressive lyrics and writing influences a la Rush and Dream Theater. But technically, blues songs aren't usually written in strings of 6's.

Jason's musical biography is nothing special: a child of a musical family that grows up surrounded by music, goes off to a Virginia college, and starts singing in rock bands. The group names changed over the years -- Kyller Instynct, Over the Edge, Black Ice, Gougroy, King Friday -- but Jason's strong vocal presence has remained. Jason was heavily influenced by singers like Steve Perry (Journey), Karen Carpenter, and Geoff Tate (Queensryche). Those influences come across in his vocal performances, and give the songs a strong melodic focus.  "Music to the ears and soul" is how one reviewer described it.

Of course, Jason's writing and vocal performances only tell part of the story: his recordings include amazing instrumental talent as well. Prior band mates from Over the Edge (Matthew Porcaro), Black Ice (Oliver Sampson), and Kyller Instynct (Todd Serafin) stand out individually as exceptional; put together, the combination is impressive.

To be clear, if you are looking for vocals that resemble chainsaws, drum sounds made by computers, or songs that revolve exclusively around sex and drugs, Jason's music is probably not for you.  But for those that can appreciate the subtleties -- soaring guitar solos, intricate drum patterns, harmonic vocal tracks, and lyrics that tease the mind -- Jason has something you will probably like.