2005 Music Year in Review
(Copied from email)
2005 Music Year in Review
Steve Maaske
Hello everyone! It’s the end of the year again, and that means another long email from me about music. If you’re new on the list, here’s the jist: Ever since my days writing for the college newspaper, I’ve put out a music year in review. Basically I do it for my own interests, and share it with everyone. If you couldn’t care less, that’s cool, I don’t expect very many people to read the whole thing. If that’s the case, then take this as my Christmas card (Merry Christmas!), and let me know how you’ve been! Otherwise, read on. As always, I love all comments about anything I wrote/reviewed, as well as anything I might have missed in the last year. And also as always, forward this on to anyone you think might be interested (that’s how I get this out to more people so some day I can write reviews for Rolling Stone). With that, here we go….
Here’s how the reviews go - I rank the top x number of albums. I’ll review them at the end (have to build up the suspense). The rest I list in no particular order.
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Decemberists put out music that boarders on an indie sound with a somewhat old England feel to it. This album is full of longing and love (lost, dead, or otherwise). 16 Military Wives is a fun romp of the somewhat arrogant American war attitudes (“Because America does if America says its so”). On the other side of the spectrum, “The Engine Driver” is a slow, touching piece about the aforementioned lost love, and “Eli, The Barrow Boy” is a slow, touching ballad in a style and voice that sounds eerily similar to John Denver. This is a pretty good album to pick up, if you’re into the genre.
Tori Amos - The Beekeeper
Tori, her piano, and her deeply personal lyrics are back. This one is far from Tori’s greatest works, but will probably satisfy those who are die-hard Tori fans. The single “Sleeps With Butterflies” is a pretty song (too pretty?) in the vein of past works. Standout track is probably a duet with Damien Rice on “The Power of Orange Knickers”. The seemingly absurd title gives way to two beautiful voices , albeit down-trodden, and a great dual-layered vocal refrain from Tori. There’s quite a lot of songs on this album though (19 to be exact), and it gets to be a slightly tedious listening experience wading through it all.
Queens of The Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze
If you liked the Queens take of speed metal (and really, how could you not?) on their previous album Songs for the Deaf, you’ll probably get at least some enjoyment out of this album, as well. Josh Homme tries a little harder to be death metal in this one though, and the humor that spotted Deaf is definitely missed. Still, the songs are just about as good, and it’s pretty easy to sing along to “Everybody knows that you’re insane”, or pretend you’re Will Ferrell banging on the cowbell in single “Little Sister”.
John Davis - John Davis
I figured I’d follow the death metal with the Christian album, just to make everyone dizzy. Anyway, I don’t usually get into Christian rock, but this album really surprised me. I found it after being hooked on Superdrag’s “Who Sucked Out the Feeling” and checked up on the band. Turns out their lead singer (that’s Mr. Davis if you haven’t figured that out, yet) left the band to make this solo album. If you’re familiar with Superdrag, you know the style, if not, think Fountains of Wayne or Matthew Sweet. There’s some undeniable catchy licks here, and while it doesn’t beat you over the head with Christianity, it uses it in clever lyrics and hopefulness. The best tracks here are the more upbeat numbers, like “Nothing Gets Me Down” and “Too Far Out”. I got this stuck in my cd player more than a few times in the last year.
Weezer - Make Believe
As much as I’d like, I can’t “Make Believe” this album didn’t come out. (Sorry, bad pun for the article quota met). Any credibility that Weezer had left from Pinkerton and the Blue Album have now been completely swept away. I’d list key tracks, etc, but I don’t want to put myself through the torture of listening to it again.
The Kills - No Wow
This is a Male/Female combo in a lo-fi setting, akin to early White Stripes if you try hard enough. The problem is, only 3 of the tracks on the album actually feel finished. Those three are all pretty good, including one of the best tracks of the year in “Rodeo Town” (an eerie, questioning track about a relationship), however the rest lack much structure or melody. There’s a lot of promise here, but you’ll probably want to wait till their next album before picking it up.
Rob Thomas - Something To Be
In short, if you like Matchbox Twenty, you’ll like this album from their front man. Thomas experiments with a few more genres , but the gist remains the same - songs about relationships gone wrong full of feeling and passion. Sure enough, its catchy, its easy to relate to, and you’re sure to hear it on the radio. If you’re not sick of the formula yet, then its enjoyable, though there does seem to be more “filler” than on the best M20 albums.
Living Things - Ahead of the Lions
The Living Things are a band of 3 brothers and friend from St. Louis that make some catchy rock (80’s Clash style) and rant on and on (and on and on and on and on) about the war and organized religion. The album starts off hot, with nearly all the fury and urgency of Pearl Jam’s Vs., but eventually gets bogged down in the constant moaning. Those first few songs really ARE top-notch, though, so the future for the band looks bright, as long as they can widen their lyrical content a bit.
Common - Be
Common is your typical R&B/rapper, except that he’s grown up a bit. You’ll hear a lot less “thugs” and “hoes” than on your typical rap album, though it is still here, masked a bit. The opening “Intro” is certainly uplifting with strings backing him, and the single “Go” with John Mayer (see, he CAN make good music!) is a laid back and extremely listenable track about his fantasy girl. As smooth as Common is, though, ultimately this is a rap album with the same themes, and we’ve all heard it before.
Audioslave - Out of Exile
For those of us that are rock fans from the early 90’s, we probably all remember the excitement when we found out former Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell and the members of Rage Against the Machine were joining forces. Then we also all remember when their debut came out and it sounded, well, just like Chris Cornell singing on a Rage Against The Machine album. And it wasn’t that great. They start to gel on this album though, and the first half of the album ranks up there with what we were all hoping for. “Doesn’t Remind Me” is a slow, acoustic led track about getting away from it all (truly showing the former members of Rage don’t HAVE to be one-dimensional), and opener “Your Time Has Come” features the classic Rage sound blended smoothly with Cornell’s vocals. This appears to be a band that’s just now figuring themselves out. Hopefully their next is their greatest yet.
Ryan Adams - Jacksonville City Nights
The alt-country rocker (yeah, I labeled him an “alt-country rocker”) gets a backing band here (the Cardinals) in the second of three albums he released this year. This time he takes a classic country approach, with slide guitars and sad, sad lyrics. The single “The Hardest Part” is easily the best track on the disc (it actually has some melody) and ranks right up there with his best work. The rest of the album is bogged down in the country style, though, and it just doesn’t quite fit adams’ brashness. Even on his quietest and most introspective albums (such as Love Is Hell and 29), he manages to get his personality into the songs. This one though seems too subdued, and it ends up being his worst (if you can say that about a Adams disc) album to date.
Coldplay - X&Y
Remember Wilco? They put out a good album with “Summerteeth”, put out another good, if not great album, with “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”, then put out “A Ghost Is Born”. Most critics loved it. Why? Because it was Wilco. In all reality, “A Ghost is Born” was a terrible album, but it got good press anyway. The good news for Coldplay? “X&Y” is no “Ghost”. The bad news is its nowhere close to as good as “A Rush of Blood to the Head” (their previous effort), and probably not up to par with their debut, “Parachutes”, either. Yet they’re still receiving huge press. Ok, cynicisms aside, there are some good tracks on this album. “Talk” is a serviceable Coldplay track that could’ve fit on earlier albums, and the hidden track “Kingdom Come” is an acoustic, heartfelt song that claims the title of best song on the album. And the single “Speed of Sound” would be great if it wasn’t a second-rate remake of “Clocks”. The rest of the album, however, is all about Chris Martin singing falsetto, and that gets old real quick. Had he thrown in a lyric or two in his natural voice, it could balance it out, but he’s just all about the falsetto here. Ugh.
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
The perennial indie “next big things” follow their tried and true formula on this disc, and it comes out pretty good. The strength of this band is the incredible rhythm section, matched by well placed guitar squeals and vocals. They do it great on opener “The Beast and Dragon, Adored” (which was one of the best songs I heard live this year), and ride the hypnotic rhythm on single “I Turn My Camera On” as well. The band can get upbeat and catchy as well, on tracks like “Sister Jack”, which is highly danceable, or soft and quiet (The Delicate Place), showcasing their talents well. This one just missed the top albums.
The Raveonettes - Pretty in Black
Another lo-fi male/female band, this is the bands second full-length offering, and they expand their range a little here, thought it may not be a good thing. It starts of with the slow and delicate “The Heavens”, followed by the duo taking turns on vocals in another slow one, “Seductress of Bums”. They finally get their brand of rock out in “Love in a Trashcan”, about a girl who looks for love in all the wrong places. The album showcases the Raveonettes unique brand of rock, stuck somewhere in the late 50’s mixed with a touch of today’s style. While the album widens the bands musical breadth, the tracks just aren’t as solid as they were on their debut album, and the listener can easily get bored in it all. And the cover of “My Boyfriends Back” is just totally unnecessary.
Garbage - Bleed Like Me
Garbage has been one of the most interesting bands of the last decade or so, employing three masterful studio geeks, and one lead-singing female diva (Shirley Manson). Their previous album started to get a bit watered down, too pop heavy, and too lite on lyrical content. It’s unfortunate, but for the most part, that trend continues. The title track is almost enough to save it all, an earnest track of struggle through life looking for meaning and acceptance. But tracks like “Sex is not the enemy” and “Boys wanna fight” are weaker than early Britney Spears albums from a lyrical standpoint, and that’s not good.
Foo Fighters - In Your Honor
This is a double album from the Foos, one all hard, one all soft. It all starts with the hard album, and Dave Grohl yelling, “Can you hear me/ Hear me screaming?”. That pretty much describes the whole first album, as it’s just Grohl yelling about nothing very interesting, over melody-less guitar and drums that is even less interesting. The soft album gets a little more interesting, maybe to the point of “This is still pretty uninteresting”. Perhaps, like the above mentioned Shirley Manson, Grohl’s just running out of things to say.
Ryan Adams - 29
Yes, you saw Ryan Adams earlier on this list, and yes, you’ll see him again. This was his third of this trio of albums he released this year. Released Dec. 23rd, I haven’t had enough listens to give it a proper review, but I’ll do my best. This album is him without his backing band, and most similar in style to the stunning “Love is Hell” he released a few years back. It’s a sort of concept album, with each song describing one year of his life in his 20’s, but you really can’t tell that from the songs themselves. The stripped down style fits Adams well, and he’s got some of his attitude back that was M.I.A. in Jacksonville, but the songs aren’t as strong as that on “Love Is Hell”. The opening title track has enough melody to it to catch you right away, and 3rd track “Night Birds” is the album stunner, starting out quiet, introspective, and depressing. He’s unable to figure out why his relationship isn’t working here, with “We were supposed to rise above/but we sink/into the ocean.” It’s a sad one, but well written. Aside from a fair number of “hit” tracks, there’s also some “miss” tracks sprinkled in, such as “Strawberry Wine” which goes on way too long.
Stars - Set Yourself On Fire
Another album I received in the last week, I’d love to give it quite a few more listens before giving my final verdict. Still, what I’ve heard so far is impressive. Stars features both a male and female singer, and they play off themselves quite well. Opener “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” gives both sides of a meeting of exes, seeing each other after years apart. They play these sides in quite a few of the tracks, sometimes playing the parts of current flames, other times as past lovers. While it can get confusing as to the state of the relationship from song to song, each song stands strong on its own on these tracks. There’s enough of varying styles here to keep you interested, and aside from a corny lyric here and there, it’s a solid album.
Dissociatives - Dissociatives
This album is all about bringing sounds together to combine for something sweet. This album is NOT about lyrics that make sense. It’s from a duo (half of which is Silverchair lead singer Daniel Johns) that focus on guitar, piano, synth, and the vocals themselves to get their desired sound out. When it all comes together, it can be quite pretty, if forgettable. There is a standout track in “Young Man, Old Man”, that combines all these pleasing sounds with some lyrics that actually make sense, with sides that argue whether or not they are better than the rest. All in all, it’s an album that fun to tap your foot to.
Now on to the
Best albums of the year, ranked in order
12. Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
Let’s just get this out of the way - “I Predict A Riot” is probably the best, catchiest, punk song since the heyday of the Clash. Listen to it three times and it will be lodged in your brain for days. Weeks, even. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the album. As stated about “Riot” this is a punk rock band in the vein of the Clash, and at its best, it’s every bit as catchy as “London Calling”. Other standouts include “NaNaNaNaNaa” and “Everyday I love you less and less”, which showcase the band with the same catchy punk as the lead single. The album falters a bit when they try and slow it down or go for the straight forward rock, but any album that can match the likeability of “London Calling”, even if for just a few songs, deserves to be heard.
11. M.I.A. - Arular
The last of 3 albums I purchased in the last week, this one could rise or fall considerably after future listens. On first listens, it sounds something like Toni Basil on a controlled substance trying to make a rap album. (That’s not meant to be a compliment, if you were a big “Mickey” fan). However, the sonics come into place, her simple style sets in, and it ends up with a sound like Beck’s Midnite Vulture’s with a clever female lyricist singing/rapping over it all. Well, at its best anyway. When she’s clever, she’s singing about the state of the world, sexuality, and just about anything else you can imagine. When she’s at her worst she’s spitting out things like “I bongo with my lingo/ beat it like a wing - yo”. And any album with a lyric like that isn’t going to be the best album of the year (ahem, Blender). Nevertheless, it amazes me how good hip-hop and rap can be when taken out of its “gangsta” rut. M.I.A. is just getting started here, and, aside from Kanye West, the future of hip-hop is outside of the US (M.I.A. and The Streets both being from Europe).
10. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
Sleater-Kinney is, simply, a group of 3 women that rock. They’ve been together for somewhere around 20 years, and they’ve put out their best album to date with “The Woods.” This album is undeniable hard rock, and its got enough of a dash of pop to draw you in quickly. The lyrics aren’t the strong point here, but they aren’t a weakness either. “Rollercoaster” does a good job of describing the ups and downs of a relationship, with a chorus of “We had a good time at the beginning/ it tasted just like all the things I was missing./ I’m going full boil till you stop me later”. Pretty much all the songs follow the same rock blueprint, and do it exceptionally well. The one exception is the slowed down “Modern Girl”, a tongue-in-cheek track about a girl’s emotions that make her fit into the modern world. As with the “Yeah Yeah Yeah’s” ballad “Maps”, it steals the album from the rocking songs, and it all combines for a truly great album.
9. Ryan Adams - Cold Roses
The first album of the three Adams released this year, this is the best. It’s closest to his classic “Heartbreaker” style than he’s had since that album, and it just fits him well. The album (which is a 2-cd set, a total of 18 songs) is solid from front to back, both lyrically and musically. As always, there’s a few tracks that rise above, such as the catchy “Let it Ride”, about a man attempting to forget his troubled past, the relenting “If I Am a Stranger”, and the sad, slow closer “Friends”, a touching ballad about imagining the difficulty of missing your friends once dead. This is alt-country at it’s near best (check out his “Heartbreaker” for the best).
8. Beck - Guero
Remember Midnite Vultures and Odelay? You know, when Beck used to be FUN? Well he’s back, doing his best Odelay impersonation on this album. This album is full of funk and rock and words that may or may not make sense. Leadoff track “E-Pro” gets the guitar going for the full rock feel on the first track. It’s followed by a Latin inspired track, a pop flavored looking-for-love summer jam, and a slower ballad about something he can’t get of his head. Or something. It doesn’t really matter, it just all sounds good, and the scope of it all is quite impressive. The funky, electronic “Hell Yes” is the most amazing track, which may or may not be about a factory worker who can’t stop dancing. Actress Christina Ricci makes a spoken word appearance on the track, stating “Your beat is nice.” She’s right. Now nod along…
7. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
Once again, a tale of the album that almost wasn’t. Assumed to be finish almost 2 years ago, then assumed to be trashed by record execs, it finally sees the light of day after some slight retooling. And guess what? Surprise, surprise, it’s a stunner. Was it all just a marketing ploy? Who knows, but the album is great. The opener is almost worth the price of the disc alone, a playful song, where Fiona sounds darn-right proud to let out a resounding “I’m an extraordinary machine!” She drifts between a few “Alice In Wonderland” sounds before getting back to the chorus, and it all comes together perfectly. The album hardly lets up the rest of the way, with tales of getting old loves back, coming to terms with the end of a relationship, and seeing things in the world more clear. A possible shout to those record execs (which may or may not have shelved the album) exists on the album, as well, in the track “Please Please Please.” It’s tough to doubt the intent here, with a sarcastic chorus of “Give us something familiar, something similar/ To what we know already/ That will keep us steady/ Steady going nowhere”. No matter the subject matter, the songs on this album have bite, and it ends up being Fiona’s best album yet.
6. Bright Eyes - Digital Ash In The Digital Urn
Unquestionably, the most underrated album of the year. Indie wunderkind (everyone calls him that, so I’ll follow along) released two albums this year, the critically praised to death “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning”, in his usual folkish style, and this album, a sonic experiment of sounds. Everyone seems to have forgotten this album is the praise of the other, and it’s a shame. There are a few justifiable complains on this one - it’s tough to follow track to track, a few slow songs drag - but this album has at least 3 of the 10 best songs I’ve heard this year. “Take It Easy” tells the tale and lessons of lost love ending in a hard heart amid a pleasing sonic background. The same sounds back the other two great tracks, closer “Easy/Lucky/Free”, and the truly incredible “I Believe In Symmetry”. The later song starts off with lyrics on the reliability and relentlessness of time and the burdens it causes, only to explode in the second half of the song in positiveness, with Conor repeating over and over “You give to the next one/You give to the next on down the line”. The lyrics and music combine for the most stunningly beautiful track of the year. And its all, unfortunately, overlooked.
5. Kanye West - Late Registration
How easy is it to dislike Kanye? He’s arrogant, he says things that aren’t all that bright (but, c’mon, that moment with Mike Myers was one of the funniest moments of the past year, right?), and he thinks he’s ground-breaking when he’s rapping about things that have been rapped about for 20 years. Fortunately, at least as far as the last topic goes, he’s right. Kanye keeps dropping the n-word, and talking about cash and money, but he provides a conscious behind it all, and he knows how to lay the beats down better than anyone. For all those of you that listen to the radio, and have heard “Gold Digger”, you know exactly what I’m talking about. A track about women trying to marry for money (gee, did the title give it away?) it’s undeniably catchy, and its nearly impossible to stop yourself from singing those n-words. Dang-it, Kanye, you’re gonna get me in trouble if someone hears me singing along. Kanye brings in the usual number of guest stars for a hip-hop album, but the real star here is him and his production. The album is just so sugar sweet, and hip-hop at the same time, that it’s brilliant.
4. Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth
It’s about time Trent got back to making music. Six years after the elongated “Fragile”, he comes back with the direct “With Teeth”. While the title may sound “metal”, it’s actually a reference to the piano backbone on the majority of the album. It starts off with the drifting “All the Love in the World”, which starts out with his usual backing synth, slowed down and quiet, with piano backing. It eventually explodes with a disco beat, along with the previous noise, in a combination not thought possible by the majority of musicians. After the journey of the first track, Trent hits back hard with the hard rocker “Don’t You Know What You Are”, which is one of the most ideal songs for mosh-pits and crazy concerts everywhere. The album is full of these songs, but the best songs are the two that drift from this. “Only” starts off with what sounds like a disco-cowboy beat, as Trent nearly rap’s over it with questions about where he fits in in this crazy world and crazy women he made up in his head. It’s a pretty simple song, by NIN standards, but it manages to but you in a head-bobbing daze that few songs can. The other epic track is “Right Where it Belongs”, which is Trent trying his hardest to make another Hurt (since Johnny Cash went and stole it from him, and all), and he does it every bit as good this time out. Trent’s full of his usual thought-provoking lyrics, with couplets like “See the animal in the cage you built/ Are you sure what side of the glass you’re on?” The track is ghostly, and it pits Trent questioning himself, and the realization that his fame isn’t all that its cracked up to be (with backing crowd noise for effect). Trent was always at his best writing lost-love songs behind a piano, and though its hidden on most of the tracks, its an album full of them here.
3. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Ah, the indie feel good story of the year. It’s definitely indie-rock here, complete with lead singer who sounds too nasally, band selling cd’s out of their basement, and hype built upon hype. But its goooood. There’s some gentle 80’s influence going on in these songs - talking heads, cure, etc. - but not much, just a touch to set them apart. The catchiness of the melodies overshadows the lyrics for the most part, and it becomes an album easy to get lost in (in a good way). “Is This Love?” is one of the songs with a definite subject and story, as the lead singer battles back and forth of whether or not he is in love, going from to one to the other in the chorus “Is this love, not its not, yes it is…..this is love, there is no doubt.” Further down the track list “In This Home on Ice” captures the listener in a dream of sound and blurred lyrics about “dancing all night” and the like. This is one of those bands that’s tough to explain, as it’s a sound all their own. Unfortunately, you won’t find this album at your local best buy, or even homer’s. You’ll have to pick this one up from their website www.clapyourhandssayyeah.com . The good news is you can listen to clips of a few of their songs out there as well. Enjoy.
2. The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
After the Stripes’ slightly disappointing “Elephant” album, the come back with an album that does their name justice. It’s tough to not give this album of the year, but there are one or two filler tracks that keep it from getting there. The rest of the album, though, is a plethora of music genres all done by the two members, Jack and drummer Meg, all done to each songs’ pop apex, without becoming pop itself. It’s never more evident than on the tracks “My Doorbell” and “Little Ghost”, both playful tracks about love. He gets more serious on “Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)”, a track that starts out with a freightingly honest and simple “I blew it. And If I knew what to do, well I’d do it.” Before going back and forth on whether marriage is for him. The best song of the album probably goes to the upbeat and twisting “Take, Take, Take”. It starts out as a tale of contemptness and happiness, before the lead character, upon meeting Rita Hayworth, slowly, line by line, becoming more obsessive, building till the end of the song where he demands a lock of hair or a kiss. It’s a batch of lyrics that truly make you relate and like the character to start the song, and as you try and side with him the whole way through, realize how easy it is to become over-the-top. The album ends with another great White Stripes capper “I’m Lonely (But I ain’t that lonely yet), about, as the title suggests, a man who is lonely, but not so much to go visit his mom, or an un-attractive girl, etc. White manages to put just enough emotion in it to feel for him, but at the same time, realize the silliness of it all. Without a doubt, this is one of the best albums of the last few years, and as close to a must-have as you can get.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR!
1. Bright Eyes - I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
Oh, Conor, how do you do it? His last 3 albums have consisted of an orchestra filled epic, a sonic experiment, and this stripped down classic. The true wonder of this album is how he takes nearly every single song on the album, and makes them better the longer the song lasts. You may find yourself mid-album hearing a song and thinking, “eh, not so sure about this one” and wanting to skip ahead. Don’t. By the end of every song you’re into the music, and wondering how you contemplated skipping ahead earlier in the song. There are a few exceptions to the rule, where the songs are that good the whole way through. The two most obvious examples of this are the albums openers and closers “At the Bottom of Everything” and “Road to Joy”. The opener starts off with a minute long intro before busting into an upbeat acoustic guitar and vocals telling us what we need to do to get our culture back on track. And is that a tuba in the background? Or someone blowing into a jar? Regardless, it’ll have people of all ages and tastes tapping their foot to the beat. The closer is Conor’s take on Beethoven. With his 9th symphony (I think, I could be wrong on that one) played out on guitar, Conor tells of his all night sleepless night, proclaiming “I’m wide awake, it’s morning”. He goes on to get bummed out by war and homelessness, but he eventually settles on his own life. The song builds the entire way through, and provides one of the best closers I’ve ever heard. Playing on his often criticized (and tough to get into) vocal abilities he lets out a scream of “Well I could have been a famous singer, If I had someone else’s voice/ But failure’s always sounded better, lets f**k it up boys, MAKE SOME NOISE!” It’s the most rock and roll lyric of the year, done on an album of stripped down, acoustic ballads and dirges. An incredible, delicate track is one of those ballads, entitled “First Day Of My Life”. A quiet, simple tune about working a relationship out. “I thought I’d let you know that these things take forever, I especially am slow. But I realize that I need you, and I wondered if I could come home”, is one of several lyrics that spot the song with memories and realization of love. He eventually realizes that he’d “rather be working for a paycheck than waiting to win the lottery”, realizing he should work this relationship out, rather than give up and hope he finds love at first site. All of the lost love, hopefulness, friendships, and restless nights combine to make a great lyrical album, and its backed by solid, agreeable acoustics, combining to make one of the best albums of the last 5 years.