Cass Mccombs - Dropping The Writ (CD)

All Music Guide

After two impressive indie popfolkrock albums for Baltimorebased indie Monitor, Cass McCombs third album, his first for Domino, starts off on the wrong foot with the overly dramatic, theatrical and angular Lionkiller. The lyrics are jarring, McCombs vocals are over the top and the music is repetitious. Once it's out of the way though, Dropping the Writ is a very good, highly enjoyable record. For all McCombs' arty inclinations, at heart he is a pop songwriter capable of crafting melodies and hooks that draw you in and at times knock you out. All the proof you need is in That's That, a shuddering midtempo track that with a slicker arrangement (and different lyrics that don't mention cleaning toilets in a Baltimore nightclub) wouldn't sound out of place on a Lindsey Buckingham solo album. Or in Crick in My Neck with it's swooping doowop background harmonies, chiming guitars and galloping hooks. Or Windfall with its pristine acoustic guitar lines, McCombs' soaring vocals and lovely yearni...ng melody. Still, those artistic tendencies do keep popping up; mostly in the lyrics but occasionally in his habit of stretching his voice past it's range and yelping to make a point (check Lionkiller or Wheel of Fortune). It can prove offputting when it occurs but mostly McCombs maintains a steady balance between weirdness and accessibility on the album. Anyone who finds comfort in the soft melancholy of Iron Wine, the intimate vulnerability of the first Rogue Wave album or, again, the willful iconoclasm of Lindsey Buckingham's best work will find much to admire here. If you can connect with the leftfield nature of the lyrics and the occasional flights of artistic fancy, you might even find love with Dropping the Writ. - Tim Sendra, All Music Guide Read more Less