David Usher
Little Songs
Nettwerk
Little Songs starts right off with a reverberated piano over heavy drumming birthing a fuzzy guitar, but seconds later it all rolls away to reveal a quaint balladeer picking for us and delicately calling someone a mother fucker.
David can’t decide if he’s Harry Chapin or Trent Reznor. While most of the songs start off sounding somewhat whole, they seem to disintegrate (yes, in a downward spiral) into some early and fairly mellow Neil Young arrangements. Don’t worry, though, he’s not a happy vamper. He’s doing a lot of drowning with a lot of time to ponder it. But he’s angry in a very poetic way.
Occasionally a Fender Rhodes provides a jazzy marsh, or a drum program drifts by. Overall, if the guy from White Town sang over Heart’s Nancy Wilson’s acoustic guitar picking with some nice breaks and intervals.
Nettwerk Records, 632 Broadway, Suite 301, New York, NY 10012; http://www.nettwerk.com