I'm The Only One For You: A Brief Review Of The New Album From Chris Brokaw (Come, Codeine, The Lemonheads)

Chris Brokaw has done time in Codeine, Come, The Lemonheads, and a bunch of other bands. He is also a solo artist whose quietly unassuming brand of dark alt-rock is the kind of thing that gently haunts. Serious but not pretentious, there's a lot to embrace here on his newest album, Puritan, out today on 12XU. For those of you expecting this to be raucous like other recent offerings on that label, you're in for a surprise.

"Depending" sways atop a hook that's both blues and folk influenced, while "I'm The Only One for You" has a nice retro vibe to it, like something Chris Isaak would have crooned on the Wild at Heart soundtrack. Elsewhere, "I Can't Sleep" rides a Velvet Underground-style hook, while "The Heart of Human Trafficking" positively mesmerizes. The intensity builds here and it's a good showcase for Brokaw's playing. He's joined by Come bandmate Thalia Zedek on "The Night has No Eyes", the closer here to Puritan, and a fairly decent showcase for that legendary player too.

Puritan, out today 12XU is hypnotic in spots, subtle and subdued in others. It's the sort of record that seems to have snuck up on me. And while everything of late on this label has had real power behind it, I guess I wasn't expecting something this relatively mellow to have as much.

[Photo: Chris Brokaw Bandcamp]