You Made Me

Singer/songwriter Pete Astors renaissance began in 2016 with Spilt Milk, hit a high point with 2018s One for the Ghost, and continues apace with You Made Me. Instead of focusing on his own words and melodies, this time Astor looks back at songs that have inspired him over the years, stretching from the early-60s Elvis Presley ballad Black Star to more up-to-date fare by Cat Power and Villagers. He imbues the songs with tender melancholy as the crack band of musicians play with admirable restraint and the backing vocalists provide harmonious support. Its a quiet record that rarely breaks the level of a whisper; even the version of Generation Xs Dancing with Myself is given gentle treatment. On this song and the rest of the album, Astor sings with the grace of a dancer as he slips and slides around the melodies, sneakily delivering emotional content in quietly devastating fashion. His version of Joe Strummers Nitcomb takes a rousing late-period call to arms and turns it into an autumnal elegy, he bleeds all the swagger out of the Replacements Cant Hardly Wait until only the sadness is left, he scales back the artifice from Villagers Courage to expose the raw nerve, and he gives Richard Thompsons classic tale of motorcycle melancholy, Vincent Black Lightning, an easy rocking sound that recalls the Weather Prophets at their finest. Along with taking these slight liberties, Astor plays it straight on a few songs, turning in faithful versions of Silver Jews Suffering Jukebox and Cat Powers Manhattan that dont top the originals -- an impossible task -- but are still lovely to listen to. The one original mixed in among the covers is the loping Chained to an Idiot, a suitably witty song thats classic Astor. It fits in well with the rest of the album, which is high praise considering the quality of the company. While You Made Me might be a bit of a pleasant diversion when compared to the two near-perfect records that preceded it, the easygoing charm of the music, the carefully curated selection of songs, and Astors winning vocal performance make it well worth a spin (or ten) for fans of his work. ~ Tim Sendra