Alex Izenberg has decided to follow up 2020's Caravan Château with a record just as lush. I'm Not Here, out today on Domino, is a release that allows Alex to stretch a bit, though things are still rooted in the same era of inspirations.
While opener "Ivory" seems cut from the same cloth as McVie-fronted Fleetwood Mac singles, "Egyptian Cadillac" is more spry. This one, part Alan Price, part Randy Newman, feels looser and sillier than what we might have heard from Izenberg on earlier releases. He may still be drawing from the same pool of influences, but at least he's allowing things to unspool in new and interesting directions, both melodically and lyrically. That's the real story here all over this album.
And to only highlight those peppy diversions is to neglect the stretch of I'm Not Here that follows. The back-to-back-to-back pleasures of "Breathless Darkness", "Our Love Remains", and "Ladies of Rodeo" are sublime ones. There's a touch of Floyd here (think "Us & Them") but, thankfully, Izenberg favors more complex constructions. Concise and subtly intricate, fans of Robert Wyatt, for example, might enjoy the second half of this release more than the first. To his credit, Alex Izenberg keeps things grounded, with the material treated with just the right amount of precision in terms of instrumentation and production. That, and the fact that Alex is more and more refining his own sound are enough to render I'm Not Here enormously listenable, and a sort of semi-classic of 2022 already.
I'm Not Here is out today via Domino.
[Photo: Giraffe Studios / Domino]