Glovemaker

The debut album from Southern California native Loren Kramar, Glovemaker reflects a childhood spent captivated by the art and artifice of Hollywood. Struck by the show biz bug, he partook in theater, dance, and songwriting from a young age and sometimes spent his Friday nights hanging out on the Warner Bros. lot (with a friend and her parents). He wrote a holiday album when he was ten and later studied fine art in college while writing spoken-word pieces based on his inner world and notions of identities. Signing with Secretly Canadian for his singer/songwriter debut, he seems to throw caution to the wind on a set of songs that alternate between the haunted, flirty, and crudely candid while walking a stylistic line between intimate, pained balladry, and theatrical Baroque pop. With a title meant to convey the public personas we all cultivate on some level, Glovemaker begins with the Bacharach-informed, horns-injected "Hollywood Blvd," whose first words are, "Welcome to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour," before Kramar introduces himself by name. As Glovemaker snakes its way through more-intimate, piano-based arrangements, jauntier Tin Pan Alley-inflected fare ("Im a Slut," "Birthday Thursday"), and atmospheric, reverb-heavy tracks ("Like a Lover"), the spotlight is always on Kramars distinctively timbred voice -- parts Cat Stevens and Aaron Neville -- and expressive performances. His full vocal range is on display on the epic "Gay Angels," a murmured dirge that builds into something more akin to a rock opera. Produced and mixed by Sean OBrien (the National, Allie Crowe Buckley), the albums contributors are no one to sneeze at, either, and include such esteemed Los Angeles-based artists as Sam Gendel (saxophone), John Carroll Kirby (synths), Amber Coffman (backing vocals), and string arranger/conductor Drew Erickson (Father John Misty, Mitski). Almost seeming like the soundtrack to a biopic about a star-crossed lounge singer who had at least brushes with fame, Glovemaker more than rises to the occasion. ~ Marcy Donelson