Poison Season

Dan Bejar returns after 2011's excellent Kaputt with his newest LP, characterized by outsized adoration tempered with sumptuous melancholy. He incorporates more jazz and trip-hop influences and his voice sounds fantastic per usual. Lyrics tend towards skyward metaphors about love and allusions to Jesus Christ and can be a bit corny sometimes.

RIYL Cass McCombs, Broken Social Scene, Kurt Vile, The Besnard Lakes
FCC: 2
Favorites: 3, 5, 7, 12

1. (2:33) Times Square, Poison Season I—Strings and piano melody, sincere vocals. Intriguing lyrics about whether Jesus saves. The precursor to track 7.
2. (3:49) Dream Lover—FCC: s***. Springsteen-style anthem about being passionately in love. Triumphant saxophone, horns, and fast percussion. Dreamy, hopelessly love-stricken lyrics. Instrumental breakdown in last minute.
3. (5:52) **Forces from Above—30-second ambient intro, then strings, tapping beat, and Dan Bejar's low, vulnerable vocals. Steadily builds in more instruments. Explodes into the groove at 2:00. Beautiful lyrical imagery. Alternates between quiet passages with congas and loud, triumphant passages. Exceptionally strong vocal delivery. One of my favorite songs of 2015.
4. (3:18) Hell—Dan wants you to know that on the inside, he's an ocean. Bright, cheerful strings contrasted with more somber sax. "Every time I try to look into your eyes, an angel flies by" wowowow so touching. Abrupt transition at 1:56 into added slide guitar, keyboards, and drums.
5. (3:36) *The River—Horn-laden lounge jazz + trip-hop. Beautiful slide guitar starts a minute in and continues throughout.
6. (3:05) Girl in a Sling—Slow, elegiac piano ballad. Smoky strings and sax solo at 0:52.
7. (4:11) **Times Square—Fast acoustic guitar, gliding keyboards, and gorgeous sax. Catchy. "The writing on the wall wasn't writing at all / Just forces of nature in love with a radio station" shoutout 2 us
8. (4:56) Archer on the Beach—More smoky lounge jazz, this time with whispered vocals.
9. (3:25) Midnight Meet the Rain—Piano and fast drumming. Weird/abrupt brief effected guitar solo at 0:55. Chaotic and frenetic.
10. (3:44) Solace's Bride—Delicate. Soft fingerpicked guitar plus piano and strings. Rich, full-bodied electric guitar comes in halfway.
11. (5:14) Bangkok—Melancholic remembrance on Bangkok. Maudlin sax and piano. Picks up markedly in the second half. A bit haphazard.
12. (5:34) **Sun in the Sky—Lush, more upbeat ballad featuring congas. Great variations with the sax here. Stunning.
13. (3:02) Times Square, Poison Season II—Softer, solely piano/vocals/strings version of track 7.