Micah P. Hinson has been steadily garnering himself a devoted following, carving out a solid niche of Americana with his colourful back story and unabashedly emotional music, aided by a voice that is bigger and more weather-beaten than should be possible in a twenty-seven-year-old. Given his recent marriage, Hinson’s outlook is more hopeful, although the record concerns itself with territory that edges on happiness, rather than embracing it. Lyrics linger over the longing or loneliness that are attendant to attachment, and even the sung refrain ‘love of my life’ has a mournful tone.

Although he hasn’t deviated much from the model that served him well on earlier recordings, his producer, John Congleton, has cleaned up and restrained the instrumentation. The intimacy here is mixed blessing, lessening the cinematic scope of previous outings, but the material is certainly strong enough to bear it. A record that requires that you listen to it awhile to gain the benefit is no bad thing.

Richard Davie