This album had my full attention shortly into the opening track, “Brick X Brick.” An aggressive finger-picking and an impatient voice that shifts between hoarse growling and caterwauling, backed by tight bass and violin, set the tone for a bundle of songs that positively drip yearning and persistence.
Christopher Paul Stelling’s second album, False Cities, is laden with songs so strong they sound good as anything from solo pieces to large group works. Freedom, transformation, and the desire to move on are some of the most pervasive themes, though the number of religious references I do catch have me convinced I’m missing many more. It is all delivered by Stelling with great clarity and an urgent guitar style that seems a most appropriately aching complementary element on songs such as “How Long” and “Writhing In Shambles,” the beat of the music underscoring the tone of the words. There is much to dig through in the words, starting with the album’s very title, which just feels like an invitation to homonym analysis.
The aforementioned “Brick X Brick” feels like the most overt eruption of music on the record, but there are a number of other memorable songs. “Free To Go” is a bouncy number that sounds like an acoustic dance band and a gospel howler met at some open stage, which is meant as a sincere compliment. “Who I Am” sets a dusty droning tone, then delicately adorns it with swells of string and voice. “You Can Make It” is one of the more restrained tracks, but having only a guitar with which to compete brings out the starkness of lines such as, “All that’s left of liberty is the right to blame, but all is mere conjecture once you’ve given up your name.” Stelling is a memorable vocalist, solid guitarist, and compelling songwriter. There’s a whole lot to like here for people who appreciate up-tempo guitar folk. (Dollartone, christopherpaulstelling.com ) Daniel Emberg