EEEElioooott!

I think cobwebs were beginning to form in this corner of cyberspace, friends. Sorry for the blogging lapse--while I accomplished very little that benefited the Speckled Mind, I (hopefully) just cleared the last hurdle for my Master's Degree by finishing my Statement of Faith.

But enough about me. Let's talk about music that I like.

At the end of last year, I got an issue of Rolling Stone that listed Liam Finn as an up and coming artist. Usually I don't find RS to be a very good barometer for new and exciting music (note--they did a feature on the Sex Pistols earlier this year. Way to stay relevant, folks). But, in this case I have to tip my hat to them. They described Liam Finn formula as follows:And in my opinion, any time you put Elliott Smith into the equation, you're bound to come out in the black.

It really is an apt description of Finn. There are places on his new album, I'll Be Lightning, when he sounds so much like the late Elliott Smith that it's spooky. Like "Elliott came back to life and found a new body to live in" spooky. He's not quite the guitarist that Smith was, but Finn's vocals are stronger and the tunefulness of the two is a dead heat (or was that "Heatmiser?")

I bought the CD on Tuesday and haven't stopped listening to it yet. The single, 'Second Chance' is spectacular even after dozens of listens (free download here). To be honest, there isn't a skippable track on the album. I think my favorite though is the last track on this record, 'Shadow of Your Man.' It's a hauntingly beautiful and weighty piano ballad about the unrequited love for a friend's girlfriend. Whatever you do, pay the 99 cents for that song.

Hope you Liam Finn as much as I do.