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City Music
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Barnes and Noble
City Music
Current price: $15.99
Barnes and Noble
City Music
Current price: $15.99
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Size: CD
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Intended as a sort of companion piece to 2016's
,
sees singer/songwriter
playing yin to the former's yang, trading comely pastoral tones for cool urban clamor. Much like
(an acknowledged and apparent influence),
is a native of the Midwest who began his career in New York, first as a member of bands like
and
, then recast as an indie poet bard with a warm affinity for the city. Before decamping to Los Angeles, he released 2013's
, a folky Greenwich Village-indebted postcard to the city of his musical awakening. After a pair of records exploring his gentler West Coast side,
returns here to his New York muse, this time evoking some of the raw thrills of the CBGB crowd paired with a contemporary indie spirit all his own. Notably darker from the outset, he opens with the brooding rain-slick ballad "Come to Me Now," whose lush organ, distorted drums, and eerie whistle sample are as lonesome as the song's lyrics. Echoes of
and especially
-- whose "People Who Died" is referenced within -- can be heard in the rousing "1234," while
seem to lurk around every corner, from the gritty midtempo thump of "Aboard My Train" to the sleepy "Dry Your Eyes." In a brief spoken word interlude reciting from a
piece, fellow singer/songwriter
sets up the album's title track in which twin guitars snake around in enchanting harmony like
on morphine. As with his debut,
feels very much like a postcard to New York, though this time
arrives with some accumulated miles to help support his wizened tone. ~ Timothy Monger