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"The music here lies somewhere between folk-rock and psych-pop, recorded in glorious mid-fi that provides the right atmosphere for the moody tunes. Sometimes, the vocal quality here reminds me a bit of Rick Corcoran of The Orgone Box, while the approach is like a rustic take on George Harrison or Lindsey Buckingham.... Familiar yet strange, I like this record." "Short Hand is irresistible. It's vintage folky blues do-it-yourself recording that I simply can't deny." "With the loneliness of early Iron and Wine and the simple, folk stylings of Woody Guthrie, Short Hand has woven incredibly tight melodies that evoke backwoods front porch jam sessions and 1940s nostalgia, (a la Jolie Holland's Catalpa). While Good Enough is a bit too vocally reminiscent of Mountain Goats for my taste, its charm is tangible and undeniable, making it worthy of repeated plays." "From the hand-drawn cassette tape on the album art to the scrap-paper immediacy of the lyrics, Shorthand P. Davis puts a sense of one-man craft into each song. You can hear the 4-track cassette queues. You can hear the crackle of the sisal-fiber chair as Shorthand leans forward after a track. The baleful popping static is like that of a record needle. Perhaps, as with good poetry, all of this soft detail adds to the mood of the work, making these sparse songs stand out beyond their simplicity and lyricism.... "For some reason, 'Everybody Knows' plays like a super-8 vicarious family memory. As with the entire album, evocative imagery reigns. In this case, I see a shirtless child, walking through a sun-blind, dry-morning wheat field chasing grasshoppers . . . but in retrospect and slightly slowed. Why? I don’t know. The melancholic groove pervades, like a low-fi bootleg between Cat Stevens and Townes Van Zandt.... "... Shorthand P. Davis has assembled music from the heart while maintaining enough vague, sideways eclecticism to steer clear of the maudlin in favor of the universal, under-spoken line. Simple lines suggesting shape. Shapes suggesting volumes. Volumes suggesting space." "... nicely textured lo-fi folk-blues rock experiment appropriately named Good Enough. It may never be perfect but it’s damn well good enough. Hipster folk kids and their brethren in the anti-folk circuit will really latch onto this." "Short Hand’s Good Enough is a great example of just how perfectly imperfect a home-grown recording can be.... This guy isn’t just some coffeehouse crooner with a guitar - he’s nostalgic and modern as well as minimalist and complex, and he has a unique voice that is sometimes gravelly and sometimes slight.... Despite the spare, modest approach of Good Enough, Short Hand’s songs are sharp and have quite a bit of bite.... "Although do-it-yourself recordings don’t appeal to everyone, Short Hand is so endearing that it’s hard to put this disc down. Off-kilter folk fans with a taste for unusual approaches to making music will find a lot to like scattered among this musician’s minimalist approach, especially in relation to the lyrics." "Good Enough is at once experimental, eclectic and above all addictive, showing the dedicated listener the rewards that can be reaped from innovative music.... [F]or those who appreciate when good hooks can meet intelligent songwriting in an indie-minimalist setting, Shorthand's album can't be beat." back |
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