East River Pipe

Considering the low profile F.M. Cornog keeps as East River Pipe, it was very easy for him to slink away for five years between albums almost unnoticed. Yet with the release of record number seven, We Live In Rented Rooms, it becomes equally simple to remember exactly why each and every one of its predecessors was so well received: he's an incredibly talented songwriter. The album isn't that different from anything else he's done, but there are some subtle changes. He still records all the music himself at his home studio and while it isn't lo-fi, it doesn't sound like a full band either. He finds his niche, one where simplicity and sparseness are celebrated. Cornog is equally succinct with his words ― the lyrics are inevitably dark and often ambiguous, but are still near-perfect sketches of people who would otherwise go unnoticed. We Live In Rented Rooms might be initially too familiar to anyone who's heard East River Pipe before, but this collection of wonderful, downbeat, melancholy moments reveals more depth with each listen. This is a very good album that fits in beautifully with the rest of the East River Pipe discography.