Chuck Melchin's country songs are tales of life in the slow lane, trying to stay as far from the ditch as he can.
In his world, change doesn't happen overnight, but it happens just the same and not always for the best.
The passing of time links with recurring themes of stasis and loss.
Good examples of this are to be heard in Numb, ("The room at the end of the hallway hasn't been swept in years") and Sometimes I Just Sits where he reflects wistfully on the implications of the fact that "the store's been closed for years".
So, for the most part , the mood of this album is lonesome and downbeat, with Melchin coming across as a travelling man resigned to getting nowhere fast.
We can hear this in the air of quiet desperation which seeps into the long rainy winter of Magnolia ("If I don't get away I'll go insane").
This forlorn perspective is well suited to the Mariachi, Calexico style rhythms of one of the best tracks, Burning Sky .
There's some tentative optimism for all that. On Down, he sings of inching towards some form of recovery : ""I've been down and I've been crawling my way back".
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Light in the tunnel is also visible on Proem , the bright instrumental opener and Tranquility, a brief banjo tune which belies its title by actually being quite lively.
Melchin wrote and sings all the songs and plays guitar. Backing comes in the shape of violins, lap steel guitar, mandolin, banjo, bass and drums. In his sleeve notes, he praises his Cambridge, Maine based band as "a loose collective of incredibly talented musicians".
This is the band's second album after 2007's Potlatch; it was recorded in Vermont.
The sad laments are heartfelt and honest, yet get a bit repetitive over the course of 11 tracks. This is not helped by the lack of range in Melchin's voice.
The eleven songs do, however, contain a rustic charm and fans of twangy Americana will find much to admire in this collection; just don't expect any happy endings.
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