Invitation Air, the Ginger Envelope’s second full-length collection, continues leader Patrick Carey’s explorations into country rock à la Neil Young’s Harvest, with pedal steel guitar player Matt Stoessel still the primary instrumentalist behind Carey’s strummed acoustic guitar and gentle, sandpaper vocals. Carey, however, isn’t so much searching for a heart of gold as he is reflecting poetically on the harmlessly screwed-up state of the world and his own life, which is redeemed only by his connections to family and friends. His benevolently desperate world view is somewhat akin to that of lyricist Robert Hunter in his words for many of the Grateful Dead’s more acoustic efforts. The musical arrangements, which also often feature guest David Blackmon’s fiddle and occasionally a banjo, support Carey’s mood by loping along at languid tempos. Sometimes background sounds of nature or conversation intrude, as if the band were playing on the lawn on a lazy Sunday afternoon in summer. In this context, the cover of Loudon Wainwright III’s “Swimming Song” is apt, with its depiction of a “self-destructive fool” who “might have drowned,” but didn’t. Carey’s persona is a similar one, and it gives his band’s music its appeal; he’s a loser with a lopsided grin. – William Ruhlmann
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