Joseph Arthur

Vacancy (Undercover)
by Jamie Kiffel

Dusty basement noise with filmy, mellow male vocals meld into a sometimes Eddie Vedder-esque nicotine cloud of music, something like what a very calm and exhausted punk might mutter from the back of a coffeehouse. The tones are strummed simply on acoustics and acoustic-feeling electrics with all the smooth patter that accompanies surety of experience. I get the reassuring feeling that Joseph Arthur has actually moaned in real life over the “looooove” and “found angels” he draws out on dry reeds of voice. There is a soothing, dreamlike quality to his sweet harmonicas and gentle melodies that make lines like “love turned evil” nostalgically poignant. Sift angelic thoughts through cigarette ash and sigh at the sweet whispers they sing out.
(PO Box 14561 Portland, OR 97293)