Jeremy Enigk
(Lewis Hollow Recordings)
Jeremy Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate sets the tone here with a lush, piano-driven waltz whose sense of majesty, combined with Enigk's aching upper register, suggests a cross between the Flaming Lips' best work and Dark Side of the Moon. The overall feel of the album, though, is earthier than that, singer-songwriter music with flashes of prog-like bombast topped by Enigk's gorgeous melodies and lyrics that suggest more than they say.
In "Mind Idea," you can tell what Enigk's getting at with "Highway crawl, the nations die" with being hit on the head with a mallet, while other highlights get by on the words just sounding good together - "Late of Camera," for example, where he paints a cryptic picture on a bed of swelling orchestration. Either way, it all comes down to Enigk's vocal prowess, from the soaring highs of "April Storm," a laid-back ballad whose high notes are suitably mellow, to "Life's Too Short," where the brooding guitar riff is closer to OK Computer and Enigk kicks the verse off with a vocal shrill enough to satisfy an Adam Lambert fan.
Standout Tracks: "Mind Idea," "April Storm" A. WATT
