A Life Full Of Farewells

The first thing you notice on this disc is a muted trumpet playing a sad, midtempo refrain that echoes through the rest of the album and sets a mood that remains constant. All of the songs feature a shimmery, acoustic guitar-based sound and vague but attractive melodies; "End of Some Fear" comes close to rocking but never quite gets there, and everything else is slow, limpid, and regretful. Peter Walsh's voice is nice but unremarkable, and the lyrics seem to exist mostly to serve the songs' mood, not vice versa -- frankly, you're not going to put this disc on to listen to the songs at all; you're going to put it on because you're in a particular mood. That said, there are some lyrics that will take you by surprise: lines like "You'll become my big excuse/The poison that I drink as I sink my teeth in you" are rather startling, particularly when sung in front of a sobbing steel guitar backdrop. There's nothing the matter with mood albums, anyway, and this really is a fine one. ~ Rick Anderson