FILTER ALBUMS
You’ve been framed
Seventh LP from Mr Waxahatchee sees life flicker by in a series of exposures.
By Danny Eccleston.
Fringe benefits: Kevin Morby reflects on what time gives and takes away.
Kevin Morby
★★★★
This Is A Photograph
DEAD OCEANS. CD/DL/LP
BUDDY HOLLY, Terry Allen, Bobby Keys, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy… when they make ’em, in Lubbock Texas, they break the mould, or else, mislay it somewhere. Kevin Morby is in that lineage of one-offs – a singer-songwriter with a chew y, conversational voice whose albums range from velvety baroque pop (2016’s Singing Saw) to spectral campfire Leonard Cohen (cf. his last studio album, 2020’s Sundowner). If you’re not a fan, however, it’s possible you’ve thought him a tad affected, with songs like Piss River, from 2019’s Oh My God, that rhyme “castle” with “asshole”. And yet, when he pares down to the simplest statements, he can unlock a childlike directness.