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***To be baffled by the sound of your own voice... know what that's like? Brooklyn-based, North Carolina-born singer Chris Lee might be able to tell you. After a solid decade devouring the more esoteric alleyways of modern music-- as DJ, journalist, and member of a handful of short-lived improvisational enterprises-- he's finally made peace with his pipes, forsaken the (self-imposed) albatross of wheel-reinvention, and resolved to use his sweet, natural croon and rare deftness with melody to simply put a little more heart and soul into an increasingly bland and cruel world. After his self-titled debut on the NYC-based indie label Misra opened a few ears, Lee re-enlisted that album's co-producer Steve Shelley, and encamped at Manning Electric in Tribeca, NYC, to mastermind his sophomore celebration. Decidedly down-er in tempo and lower-key in vibe, based primarily on acoustic guitar, upright bass, and Lee's remarkable throatwork, the album recalls stripped-down masterpieces such as Pink Moon, Led Zeppelin III, and G'n'R Lies. Lyrical continuity with the debut is preserved via heartfelt odes to loves almost-had and wistful paeans to Dixie. Not since the halcyon days of Tim Buckley and Colin Blunstone has earnestness so dazzlingly traipsed along the line between beauty and bunk. Highlights include "Lonesome Eyes," a shuffling anthem replete with '70s horns, "In Yellow Moonlight, Greater Stars Will Fall," which imagines Ali Farka Toure accompanying Nick Drake, and a cover of Neil Young's classic "On The Beach," which features burning guitar leads courtesy of ace axeman Smokey Hormel (Beck / Tom Waits / Marianne Faithful), and Shelley behind the drumkit. |
