And it's some sort of small miracle that he can employ such rudimentary guitar strumming in a tune such as "Today's Sun," but then reel you right in with a verse like "And I walked down the street today/ I saw all the little kids playing around and laughing and smiling/ And I thought to myself/ Maybe it's not that bad." Making the most of simple elements is a gift all great songwriters seem to have, and for all his apparent limitations, Mason has that gift. He clearly feels things very deeply, and with his basic chord progressions and open-hearted songs, Mason manages to take you pretty far up his emotional trail.

And there is some variety here, from the weird stream-of-consciousness musings of "CTA" to the ambient piano instrumental "The Lonely Traveler." But mostly what you're left with upon hearing this album is a kind of trance-like connection to Mason's brand of straight-up melancholy. Repeated phrases like "catching shadow, catching shadow" (from the title track) and the lyric "It's in your heart," sung over and over again in "Heart," are frequently all it takes to get the gist of Mason's earnest, universal sentiments. B | Kevin Renick

RIYL: Daniel Johnston when the meds are working, Guided by Voices, wallowing in memories