Paul Russell

:: Paul Russell ::

:: KRFC Live@ Lunch :: March 18 ::

:: Laughing Goat :: March 19 ::

:: Avogadro’s Number :: March  20 ::

Paul Russell

Back at the Scene of Our Beautiful Crime

Independent

3 out of 5 stars

While the first track of this album was playing I kept checking my iTunes to make sure that I wasn’t accidentally playing a Tim O’Brien album.

The rest of the album doesn’t sound nearly as much like an O’Brien release, but Back at the Scene of Our Beautiful Crime does share one common element with O’Brien’s releases — polish. For Russell, this works wonderfully on some songs, showcasing a mature, refined songwriter whose attention to detail pays off. But while that may be the album’s greatest strength, it may also be it’s greatest weakness. It almost comes across as too polished in some places, where rich textures tend to battle for attention, rather than compliment each other, or let individual sounds shine.

On the title track, most obviously, the song builds to a climax with ample strings, awesomely rich bowed bass and soaring lyrics, but there’s so much going on, it’s tough to know what to listen to.                                                       — Brian F. Johnson

 

:: Paul Russell ::

:: KRFC Live@ Lunch :: March 18 ::

:: Laughing Goat :: March 19 ::

:: Avogadro’s Number :: March 20 ::