BILL JANOVITZ
Up Here ( SpinArt )
Singer-songwriters who step away from bands to record
solo albums are prone to mistakes and the best ones learn from them. Bill Janovitz
released his first disc without Buffalo Tom a few years back, and the country-leaning
direction flummoxed fans of the Boston band’s impassioned melodic rock.
In contrast, Up Here sounds like Buffalo Tom demos that Janovitz and some friends
have fleshed out into complete, subdued songs. On the lilting “Half a Heart”
the throaty singer complements his voice with soaring female harmonies by Chris
Toppin, approximating classic duets like Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, or
Richard and Linda Thompson; “Your Stranger’s Face,” meanwhile,
owes a debt to late-’60s Stones. Janovitz augments his clear acoustic guitar
strumming with murky sustained piano on several tracks to nice effect, but it’s
his bold narrative strokes that stand out. He navigates themes of geography,
love and abandonment with exquisite detail“I’m falling now like shadows
do/ I need you home”and delivers each line with the care of a master craftsman.
By Richard A. Martin