Backstory: "Love of Mine" by Paul Hunton
Paul Hunton is a singer and songwriter in Albuquerque. With his band Dust City Opera, he has crafted songs that have a bit of a dark side to them, masked often by a musical current that doesn’t linger long. You may be reminded that sometimes bad things happen at the circus, but soon enough the elephants and acrobats are back in the center ring showing off their stuff.
Thoughts on Lucy Barna's What I Know Is True
Lucy Barna’s new album What I Know Is True treats the Madrid singer/songwriter’s songs softly and honestly. It is an album full of tight compositions and straightforward orchestration. It is a fair reflection of Barna’s years playing live but goes beyond that to make good use of the studio, allowing the songs to be absorbed without distractions.
The Radio Engineer
There is something of a gallop to American road songs. It’s not a specific tempo that defines one but rather something in the cadence that evokes those windshield wipers keeping time. I’m not sure if Johnson intended The Radio Engineer to be a road album, and I’m not even sure if I’m even ready to call it one, but I will say that when the brushes slide across a sharp snare drum, it starts to sound like that's the kind of thing it could be. What I can say, regardless, is that it is an album suited to the road.