(Skybucket)

www.skybucket.com

There's a hazy pall of displaced circumstance that lingers over Barton Carroll's third solo release, a feeling that blurs the overall impression.  Despite otherwise amiable rambles like "The Poor Boy Can't Dance" and the cheeky "Let's Get on With the Illusion," Carroll occasionally seems preoccupied, providing an aloof perspective that furthers the divide.  Carroll, a member of Crooked Fingers and sometime contributor to Azure Ray, Dolorean and Micah P. Hinson, resembles a wayfaring troubadour, but his vampish duets with singers Anna-Lisa Notter and Annabella Kirby and ample use of ragtime instrumentation - sax, clarinet etc. - leaves a sepia-like hue throughout. It also creates a hollow, ghostly aura that affirms a lingering sense of despair.

This downtrodden delivery is especially effective on the sad and somber "Shadowman," which explores the dichotomy between love and hate when it comes to sibling relationships, and "Do You Want To Get Out of Here," a twilight tale of two barflies who meet by chance. These two songs are affecting and touching in a sobering sort of way... and proof that when Carroll fully invests his soul, Together You and I provides an indelible bond. 

Standout Tracks: "Shadowman," "Do You Want To Get Out of Here" LEE ZIMMERMAN