T.W. Walsh

On his second full-length album, TW Walsh continues down a path guided by Neil Young over one shoulder and Aimee Mann over the other. Having begun his career as a drummer in various Boston bands, he's practically abandoned the kit here, in favour of sly keyboards and other subtle instrumental touches. Walsh has found a perfectly appropriate help-mate in engineer Frank Padallero, whose work in Scud Mountain Boys explored similarly whispered, dramatic territory. Padallero contributes some instrumentation here and there, but for the most part, this is Walsh's show ¾ he plays practically everything else. How appropriate: his is a lonely life, and having friends over would ruin his sad fun.