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Written by Kevin Renick Tuesday, 25 September 2007 13:19

If elegant slowcore music is your thing, you'll enjoy this disc.

Lots of nice recordings have come from Portland-area artists in the past few years; must be that Pacific northwest ecotopia exerting its magical influence. At any rate, the debut release by The Truly Me Club is another Portland delight-soft, dreamy pop music with sparse keyboards, light rhythms (when there at all) and gauzy male vocals. Jason Parker is the guiding force here, having written all but one of the album's ten tracks. Think Low vs. Grandaddy and you're pretty much in the stylistic realm this disc explores. "Cal-ifor-ni-ay" begins with a solemn organ like something you'd hear at a church service, and the stretched-out pronunciation of the Golden State that Parker effectively employs seems to hint at California as a state of mind, something you can't leave once you've lived there or something. Beautiful, melancholy stuff. "Companions" captures an intimate mood with very simple piano chords, Parker's shy but upfront voice and a some background ambience. "We All Agree, It's a Wasteland" (no clue in the lyrics what state Parker means) and "Halfpipes" both combine droning keys and those distinctive vocals to hypnotic effect, while the best song is probably "Be Kind," which sounds like it features a harmonium, but has a gentle pulse and moody little hook that really stay with you. If elegant slowcore music is your thing, you'll enjoy this disc; it aims for the shiver reflex and scores most of the time. Very nice stuff, when restless melancholy is all you want to hear... B+ | Kevin Renick

RIYL: Grandaddy, early Eels, American Analog Set