Zach who? Zach Gill? Never heard of him. 

Seldom known by his first name, Zach Gill is the front man for Jack Johnson’s favourite little side band, Animal Liberation Orchestra (otherwise affectionately known as ALO). 

Mr. Gill, after a period of working with his band and Jack Johnson, has stepped out of the confines of working in a group and has produced his first solo effort, Stuff, was released on Brushfire Records, Mr. Johnson’s independent label.

This charismatic front man with a voice that rings an age and maturity beyond his years, exciting live performances, that even Little Richard would be proud, and a smile that would make Margret Thatcher blush, Zach has a huge gap to fill with his solo work, making this album an interesting conundrum.

Done well this would help Gill's career and music persona ten-fold. Done ok and maybe Gill should stick to being a part of ALO. 

A hard thing for most aspiring musicians tenaciously working to get out of the shadows of their bands, trying to stand on their own feet.

He might have just done that.

Having just bought the CD, I admit I had a few expectations, a clash of soulful blues and roots with the fun loving nature that is ALO. 

Although this album has elements of that resonating through almost every song, its almost impossible to try and categorize this album.

It’s not ALO. 

Well, it kind of sounds like it might be, but no, it’s Zach from ALO.

Maybe that has an air of familiarity to it for most other people, personally, I cannot help but notice there is a stark difference between the two, which I feel is important for Stuff to try and stand out on its own and believe it does so. 

Don’t get me wrong, this is probably not going to be as successful as Jack Johnson’s work, I also doubt that this album could even go platinum, but for a freshman album, this certainly is worthy of some notable mention.

The melodies and a cross of music genre’s, with bits of reggae and blues influences, roots and folk all meshed into one, blend seamlessly within the carefully placed tracks on this album, where you cant help and sit back and not really take notice of where one song ends and the other begins. 

Picking tracks that stand out from this album is hard to do, but tracks such as 'Family,' featuring Jack Johnson, 'Beautiful Reason,' 'Bettina,' 'Lizzard Bridge' and 'Small' are some of my suggestions if you are sceptical and want to hit up iTunes for a few tracks.

Will this album raise Zach’s profile and make more people aware of ALO and other Brushfire Records artists? Or is it meant to be for the purest and honest fans that maybe out there? I don’t know, but this is an album written to be enjoyed when you are alone, tuned out to all that’s going on in the world making you want to spending quality time attending to yourself. 

Feel good? Yes it is!

This album, albeit a different feel to the regular ALO sound we’ve become accustomed to, rings true to the nature and musical genius Zach produces. 

The fact that he’s done this also in a solo project, just gives us a little bit of hope that Zach will write another solo album, very soon.

Rating: 4/5

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Tracklisting

1. Family

2. Don’t Touch My Stuff

3. Watch Them Grow

4. Back In The Day

5. Bettina

6. Small

7. Handy Man

8. Poseidon’s Navel

9. Beautiful Reason

10. Fine Wine

11. Lizard’s Bridge

12. Long