The Smitten King Laments

The full-length follow-up to 2007's The Filth and Wonder of Simon Breed, The Smitten King Laments positions British singer/songwriter Simon Breed as the missing link between the wry self-abashment of American Music Club's Mark Eitzel and the dark, quasi-Biblical side of Nick Cave. Dropping the casual vulgarity of the debut EP, Breed's lyrics tend towards complex and poetic allegories like "I Spy the Spider" (a brutally effective song about relationships built on false pretenses, using the unlikely image of a pair of dancing spiders each pretending to be a fly) and "Golem vs. Gentile Giant," a clever, personalized retelling of one of the key legends of European Jews. The near title track, "The Smitten King's Lament," is one of the album's best, a devastating self-portrait of a "morbid and morose and made in Britain" songwriter writing "a poem bruised by yelling it," set to a country-influenced acoustic tune not far removed from the likes of Bonnie "Prince" Billy. The album's sound is primarily focused on Breed's voice and acoustic guitar, with other instruments introduced sparingly if at all. Breed's debut EP was promising but slightly flawed, occasionally leaning towards Jeff Buckley-like melodrama. The more measured, restrained and carefully crafted The Smitten King Laments is a far better album that more than delivers on the promise of the EP and introduces Simon Breed as a songwriter to watch. ~ Stewart Mason|