‘A Year and A Half of Rain’, is not as quite as depressing as the title would suggest. Although with song titles such as ‘A Song About Her’, ‘Punch Drunk’ and ‘Sitting Drinkin’ Blues’, it is a close run thing. The album although taking in such topics as depression, drinking, solitude and the strains of urban living, it does also highlight the good things in life – girls, drinking (again) and time spent with friends. Dyjecinski has a similar singing style to Mark Everett of the Eels, and musically, having grown up in Canada, it is no surprise that certain tracks have echoes of Neil Young, with ‘Sitting Drinkin’ Blues’ in particular sounding like it could have come from ‘Harvest’. At other times Dyjecinski sounds like Wilco, Ryan Adams, Gene Clark and Gram Parsons, which as some of the main names in the genre, it is to be expected that any good ‘county-folk’ album will bring them to mind. Although there is nothing groundbreaking on this album, fans of the above artists would be recommended to give Artur Dyjecinski a listen.
