Very good, sags here and there
You could take the four or five best tracks from this album--let's say the first four songs, plus "The Tired Words"-- and have an absolutely stunning EP. If all the songs were as good as the best ones, I'd definitely make this a five-star album. Emusic featured "The Tired Words" in a monthly sampler a while back, with very good reason: it's probably the best single track on the album. It's mostly a sort of muted folk-rock with subtle and imaginative instrumentation. Some of the slower songs in particular drag a bit. And to my taste the lyrics misfire pretty frequently, not generally living up to the evocative promise of the title. Still, very much worth downloading. A special note on the drumming: I often find the drums on this kind of low-key music obtrusive, but that's not the case here. The drumming is subtle and varied, very propulsive when called for, but never too crash-bangy for the somber ambience.
