Ambitious+lush yet cool+collected -- certainly understated, but a distinguished display of proficiency in both the playing and mixing of this array of folk-pop apparatuses. The concision also suits the whole levelheaded-complacency thing. These vocals, though -- so aloof, so hushed, frustratingly inaudible at times -- given his 25-year laundry list of production credentials I presume it's intentional, to accentuate the instrumentation perhaps. But this preference feels more like sorely missed potential: wouldn't boosting 'em a hair-or-two-or-three add some much-needed punch? Put forth that ostensible wit with a bit more plangency? Make these songs, I dunno, worth it?
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