Postcards From The Edge
by Guy Blakeslee

From Mercury 03/03/2021 22:07 | #266932

(A fun, messy singer/songwriter album whose charm is in the drunken stumbles, the slurred thoughts, and the feeling that you are hearing the despairing thoughts of a man who just doesn't know what the fuck to do next.)

I initially had a comment here that explained nothing of the album, I just thought "This is good" and that is essentially what I said. Now that I have had a chance to revisit this and absorb it, I think I understand what I like about it.

There is a certain "Lostness" here. This is the sound of a man after a few drinks, feeling sad and somber. The ramshackle rhythms and the piano chords and the distant horns all express a certain sadness and a certain drama which makes these otherwise straightforward songs sound larger and more intense.

The vocals of Guy are hit or miss. He is able to express that aforementioned sad despair with his warbly cadence. But perhaps he leans to heavily on that trick or sound. Nonetheless, I'd say on average the vocals are solid. The songwriting is solid. The real star of the album, however, are the extra musical embellishments that pop up to fill out this picture of loneliness and loss and yearning, the big synthy pulse on "Postcards from the Edge:", the somber horns on album opener "Sometimes", the noisy almost psychedelic backdrop of "Giving Up the Ghost", and the tear-jerking sounds of rain with that lonesome minor key piano on the epic closing track "Blue Butterfly". Its these details that bring the emotion home and make this a really solid album overall.

From Mercury 02/07/2021 17:57 | #265977

(A fun, messy singer/songwriter album.)

I probably have the closest to nothing to say about this album of all albums this year. I was a bit drunk at 4am when I listened to this. There are some really nice tunes here with some good and charming vocals, some nice horns and shit if I recall correctly. It sounded nice. Need to revisit. But for now that's what I got.