A good song starts with the right recipe: a few flakes of folk, a wooden ladle of country, and a big pile of pop, all dolloped onto a rock foundation. Heat until it simmers and you’ve got “All That I Can Say” by Commutes.

“All That I Can Say” is a slow-moving wall of sound, all guitars and drums and what sounds like an electric piano chiming in the background (whatever it is, it’s a great, well-played touch), topped by solid vocals and harmonies. There are no histrionics here, just Good Music.

As a Certified Music Journalist, I am obligated to inject at least one Obscure Reference into each review. The Obscure Reference for today is that the guitar solo on “All That I Can Say” sounds like the guitar solos on Neil Young’s “Powderfinger” (Weld version). That’s probably because Neil threw every trick in the How To Play Rock Guitar video into those solos, so any medium-tempo guitar instrumental that has followed leaves listeners saying, “Uh, gee, that sounds like ‘Powderfinger.'”

Commutes is Griffin Urbano with some help from his friends. He played all of the instruments on “All That I Can Say” with the exception of the drums (provided by Matthew Urbano). I don’t know anything about Griffin other than that he’s from Seattle, is active on Twitter, and has one previous release on Bandcamp, the six-song EP, Take It (from 2016). Judging from “All That I Can Say,” about all that I can say is that Griffin is a very good songwriter and performer who has a bright future. I plan to hear more good music from Griffin and Commutes in the future.

You can support deserving independent musicians like Griffin Urbano, aka Commutes, by visiting his Bandcamp page, listening to his music, and downloading your favorite tracks. And be sure to follow Griffin Urbano and/or Commutes on Facebook and Twitter.