In the late 1990s, John Brandon declared in his Alt.Country pages that Will Oldham's voice on his Palace/Palace Music albums was a case of "bad singing on purpose", a verdict he may have had cause to revise in the light of the Oldham's later success in his Bonnie 'Prince' Billy incarnation.
To level the same criticism at Nashville-born Luke Roberts may well be equally risky and premature but it's hard to take his brand of maudlin crooning seriously.
His debut album is one-paced (slooooow) with the exception of the more upbeat Anyway (the best track) with a My Morning Jacket vibe. On Unspotted Clothes and All American he affects a depleted delivery like Neil Young in his ditch-trilogy period while on Coo Coo Bird (not the famous folk standard by Clarence Ashley) he wails "She's got the whole world in her hands" with a studied lack of enthusiasm.
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The album was recorded in Athens, Georgia by Kyle Spence of experimental rock/noise band Harvey Milk. Spence has deliberately left the tracks sounding like rough demos with no frills guitar and solemn drum beats for backing.
On the closing track, Dime Song, when Roberts asks desperately, "Can you protect me from myself?", he sounds like a guy self-consciously slumming it for added pathos.
I will be happy to stand corrected if Roberts' future recordings prove me wrong but there's something about the faux-authenticity of the Shitgaze meets raw folk on this record that just doesn't convince me.
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