There’s definitely honey at the core of this album. Mascis’ voice dominates and steers throughout, smoothing the passage for what lies ahead.
Songs such as ‘Heal The Star’ and ‘Drifter’ are very moving without ever being smothered by sentimentality or preachiness – a common curse of the singer-songwriter in any age.
There’s a little bit of Jeff Buckley in the vocal swoops and preening and also a good dosage of David Gray in the vocal grit and sense of regret for mistakes made and times gone past which he (and we) will never get back.
This, then, is an album with a very dark sound, filled out and characterised by a man with a very rich and uplifting voice. A superb sound for the end of summer/beginning of autumn blues to be swept away to and one which deserves exposure to as wide an audience as possible.
