I'm cynical enough to say this right off: Kevin Morby desperately wants to be Leonard Cohen. I know I sound like an asshole but I defy you to listen to Sundowner, the new one from the former Babies front-man, out today via Dead Oceans, and tell me that it doens't sound like the late legend. Read into that dig from me a sort of backhanded compliment that Morby almost pulls it off.
"Valley" and the title cut are simple, fairly potent numbers, but "Campfire" is a bit better, a lightly peppy vibe in this one. Elsewhere, "A Night at the Little Los Angeles" adds in some delicate guitar-work, while the elegant "Velvet Highway", a nice instrumental, jettisons the axe for the piano. I wish more of Sundowner had been like this number, but Kevin Morby is deep in his muse on this record, such that even an excellent composition, like closer "Provisions", threatens to get forgotten when heard next to another near-dozen similarly-scored ones.
Sundowner is not the kind of thing that I'd rush to play as much as any of The Babies releases, but it's fairly well-done for this kind of thing. Your degree of appreciation might depend on how you approach this record, and whether you give it your full attention and allow yourself to get sucked into it.
Sundowner is out today via Dead Oceans.
More details on Kevin Morby via the official website, or the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Kevin Eastlund]