Born Heller - s/t

The Born Heller album has enjoyed heavy rotation in my household lately; my roomie Bryce (whose tastes usually run between teh Smiffs & Joy Division & teh Bob Dylan Man) copied it from me and plays it all the time. I'm glad of this; I really like the sparseness of it all, and it suits the early autumn/late summer weather pretty well--especially the chillier days and windier nights. With the exception of maybe "Pansies" there isn't a notably weak track. Keeping the album short probably contributed to that; if it were ten or fifteen minutes longer it would have more potential to get tiresome.

My favorites are the extremely pop "The Left Garden" (which is the most conventionally pretty song on the album, despite lyrics about dead birds and running away from humans), "No More Lamps In The Morning" and "First Kiss." I'll admit, though, that "First Kiss" isn't too gripping until the chanted/repeated ending.

For those of you into the folksier/more rustic side of things, this comes highly recommended. I had, actually, never heard of them until they played Pasture Fest in July. ILMers Brock, Roger Adultery & Emma Cleveland were there. I was blown away, so I got the CD. I'm glad that it wasn't just the mushrooms, that it was actually a worthwhile purchase.