Two Part Confessional (pt 1) $1.36

About Two Part Confessional (pt 1)

This is the first in a two part project. Although the music is not a radical departure from previous releases, it is a subtle adjustment in focus. The songs are more internal, observational... confessional.

Music in the singer/songwriter tradition with friends Hank Linderman, Gerry Beckley (a better day), and Jeff Foskett. The music also gets a visual make-over through graphic designer Jason Munn (Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, others).

Comes with a Smile #20:
Despite a personal creed that I should never trust anyone who sings that they are "looking at december like a friend of mine" I find myself oddly attracted to this record. It's almost a happy song, despite the month in question, skittering along in its hummable, acoustic groove. Maybe Cascade Idaho soon shook me from that , the guitar ripping in like Peter Buck decided to Begin the Begin all over again. So far so good and A Better Day keeps the mood going, despite a pounding beat that sounds like that Dove's song that sounded like something else anyway. There's a mellower tone for The Way Outside and it allows Larson's voice to come through strongly. Play Through has an inkling of open-top driving about it, but just fails, thankfully, to follow up on that promise and decides to take a Dinosaur Jr. ending rather than drift along longer. That leaves the closer Only Green to wander around in a dreamy dance of its own, strobed by the lazy passing of headlights as the end of the road nears. One the basis of part one of the confession, the priest might find himself very crowded in the little box by the time of part two. -- Laurence Arnold