Reviewed by Paul S Ganney

Fort Wayne is a film produced by singer, songwriter and sometimes rapper McNease (and is available on YouTube) in which he plays a down-and-out singer/songwriter stuck in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The bonus tracks (which for some reason came first on my copy) are very atmospheric voice and acoustic guitar stuff (plus a small amount of backing) and are very pleasant listening. Heath has a very good, clear voice that sweeps and soars through the lyrics. The music inspired by the film has a more cinematic feel to it and if anything buries his voice within it. The guitar figure on "Eastbound 94" with mildly bored "Hallelujah"s over it demonstrates this feel well. The pace is easygoing/lazy and evokes images of hot days when nothing much wants to move and what does would rather leave, in a wistful sort of way. Overall it felt a lot like "Nigel Lived" by Murray Head, both in tone and some of the delivery, although "Starry Eyes" was more in the Robert Plant midwest drawl camp. "Codes" stood out from the film-inspired tracks, with its jaunty piano line and very emotive "I'll Hold My Breath For You" lyric. Overall it was all okay, although the bonus tracks were generally the better ones, showing what Heath McNease is capable of.

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