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Written by Laura Hamlett Thursday, 20 April 2006 10:53

Thankfully, there’s much to like on The Palace at 4am (Part I).

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I had absolutely no idea what to expect from Bennett & Burch. Though I’ve been a fan of Jay Bennett, studio musician, for many years (he’s worked with two of my favorites, Tommy Keene and Adam Schmitt—not to mention being part of Wilco until the recent, highly publicized split with Jeff Tweedy), I’d never heard him sing, and I knew even less about his songwriting abilities. It wasn’t until he made a stop at Off Broadway in June (with his new partner, singer/songwriter Edward Burch) that I even realized he had put out an album. Before we get into this, let me make one thing clear. I want this album to do well. Jay Bennett is a talented multi-instrumentalist—and, after seeing I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, which portrayed Bennett as a bumbling idiot and Tweedy as a sensitive and impassioned artist, I truly believe he got the shaft as far as Wilco goes.

Thankfully, there’s much to like on The Palace at 4am (Part I). The first song, “Puzzle Heart,” is a gentle, country-tinged example of two voices perfectly harmonizing. Also in the alt country vein is “Talk to Me”; “Whispers or Screams” sounds strangely like Elvis Costello or John Wesley Harding (who, himself, sounds a not unlike Costello). “Shakin’ Sugar” is a ’50s-style rocker with a perfectly timed beat; half lullaby, half love song, “My Darlin’” is an easy dreamer. Two songs, “No Church Tonite” and “Little White Cottage,” are reworked Woody Guthrie songs, his words set to new music; another two, “Shakin’ Sugar” and “Venus Stopped the Train,” are cowritten by Bennett and Tweedy.

Throughout Palace, Bennett & Burch alternate lead and harmonizing vocal roles. They both (and I confess here to not knowing which is which) have strong voices, distinct enough to blend beautifully. They’re also both amazingly versatile musicians, each claiming to play the following for this album: guitars, pianos, tiple, pump organ, stylophone, synthesizers, percussion, drums, “and other things [they] simply cannot remember.” Categorically, the album would fall somewhere in between early and later incarnations of Wilco.

“You’re like a photograph,” Bennett (or Burch?) sings on the beautiful and understated “Like a Photograph,” “never quite tell the truth.” Later, he intones, “You’re like a wishing well/you’re too deep and too dark.” The same could be said of The Palace at 4am; with its well-worded images, it, too, is like a photograph—as for telling the truth, well, only Burch (or Bennett?) can say.