Bike For Three is a collaborative effort between Rich Terfry (Buck 65) and Joelle Le (Greetings from Tuscan). On paper this is a collaboration that should be a fine pairing. However, as one goes through this album one can’t help that the literal distance between the duo – they’ve never met in person – somehow contributes to the emotional distance heard here. Terfry has recorded some deeply emotional songs and evoked powerful feelings through his quiet, calm expression or gruff growl, but that emotion is lacking here. “Heart as Hell” is a good example of this, and also an example of a song that retreads old ground conceptually. For a wordsmith as talented as Terfry, there’s not a lot here. Similar to the vocals, the instrumentals here – often a moody electronica – are similarly plain. “Sublimation” takes this darkness and brings character to it, in contrast to other downtempo tracks on the album. There’s some good stuff here – “Full Moon,” a more energetic but still somewhat dark track – is a showcase of the duo at its most accessible. Bike For Three has done good work in previous releases, and some of that can be seen here. The handful of great tracks here make it worth listening, but there’s enough middling material here to hold the album back as a whole. (Fake Four Inc, fakefourinc.com) Devin King