Phil Shoenfelt & Southern Cross
(Easy Action)
Phil Shoenfelt's history stretches back to the early ‘80s and the postpunk act Khmer Rouge. But the British-born/Prague-based singer/songwriter/guitarist has a steady flow of releases with both Southern Cross and the band Fatal Shore that only the geekiest of rock cognoscenti seem to know about. A shame, that, if Paranoia.com is any indication.
Much like his late friend Nikki Sudden (with whom he recorded the excellent Golden Vanity in 1998), Shoenfelt works in a straightforward, guitar-based rock ‘n' roll vein, crooning his poetic lyrics over basic riffs and unfussy rhythms. Boasting both a creamy baritone and a sense of melancholy that's almost gothic, Shoenfelt is less exuberant than his old compadre, given more to brooding folk rock like "Forgiven" or weary confessions like "Tired of Loving You." But he's no defeatist, injecting a strain of sardonic humor into the bitchy "Stupid Rock Star" and the obsessive title track. Like Sudden, Shoenfelt is something of an iconoclast, with no obvious place in the current modern rock landscape. But that makes an album like Paranoia.com all the more interesting and worth hearing.
DOWNLOAD: "Forgiven," "Paranoia.com," "Tired of Loving You" MICHAEL TOLAND
