Cass McCombs - 'A' (4AD)
4/5
By: Toby L
'Our friends and family will all get left behind... Give 'em up... Give 'em up.'
Continuing its art of vital-genius discovery, specifically in the obscure, American end of things, Cass McCombs is the latest rabid rabbit from the hat of 4AD, as well as original discoverers Monitor Records... Before we forget: send them both a bouquet of flowers and the finest champagne around for their combined efforts, would you please?
For 'A' makes for an enthralling, hypnotic and moving debut-LP from the hopelessly emotive, stand-alone crooner (just what is it with these flimsy, moaning singer-songwriter types and one-letter emblazoned records...? Jeez, you'd thought Damien Rice with 'O' would be enough - Frustrated, Pedantic Ed). Songs are stark, effectively repetitive - commonly centring on just one key guitar-refrain - and majorly enlaced with a restless, direct honesty and bleak humour, paralleling Bright Eyes if Conor Oberst had spent his life in an empty, smoky jazz-bar all his life rather than grotty rock-clubs.
From the off, this is tragically brilliant, beguiling, beautiful stuff. Classic in the making, 'I Went To The Hospital' couldn't be a more welcoming introduction even if it bolstered a 100-piece symphonic orchestra, what with its studio-room reverb, McComb's straggly, ragged vocal, chiming guitar and almost-depressingly introspective notes.
'A Comedian Is Someone Who Tells Jokes' and 'Aids In Africa' are similar highlights, painstakingly earnest without the rending pain or strain of pretension, while when the pace mildly quickens with organ-backing and fluid double-bass - 'When The Bible Was Wrote' - McCombs proves he can 'do happy', too. 'My Pilgrim Dear', with its shuffling country and western solitude and nervy keys, is yet more analogous masterclass, and the closing 'My Master' is a parting-shot so magnificently understated that you just may consider if serenity had ever existed prior to this record's conception.
'I wanna be famous... for falling in love...' With odes this bittersweet and subject-matter pondered over so graciously, sung by a voice so open, frail, human, it looks likely that McCombs is set to fulfil his dream. And, already, we're falling for him ourselves.
Artists in this article: Cass McCombs
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