The first thing I noticed about this disc was the utterly amaturish packaging. I like the indie/lo-fi ethos as much as the next guy, but Geez Louise! I do a nicer job when I burn discs for friends. Of course, this is secondary to the music.... I bought this disc because I was looking for something quiet and sad but with a little edge. Something with integrity that I could fall asleep to. I wasn't disappointed. Nearly all the songs on this album are written from the point of view of a young lonely outsider. Interestingly, rock doesn't do sad well, and its outsiders are usually rebels. Here we have an outsider who is sensitive, perhaps too sensitive. The spare sound (acoustic guitar and keys) and scratchy vocals lend a fragility to the already delicate lyrics. Every track has at least one unusual lyric or idea that means to hit home, and often does. A bittersweet turn of phrase that brings a wry smile to one's face. My only complaint is that most of the songs aren't fully developed. They tend to be short. They state the situation. But there is no attempt by the protaganist to understand why he is in such a forelorn situation, how he got there, or what the ramifications of it may be for his future. There's sadness, but no real depth. It's all quite juvenile, like a superficial Junior High lament. The inclusion of the loony "Tracheotomy" was supposed to lighten the mood, I guess. An unfortunate miscalculation.

In general, concept albums just don’t work for me. This one’s different though, in more ways than one. First of all, the concept itself is very different. Picture, if you will, a social misfit, a guy who’s too shy and withdrawn to talk to the girl of his dreams, or pretty much anyone else; who doesn’t open his apartment door because he knows it’s the landlord and he owes a couple months’ back rent; who has listened to Gordon Lightfoot’s Gord’s Gold album so many times he doesn’t even hear it anymore, it’s just become part of the background noise of his life. Then imagine that he has built himself a fort out of blankets draped over his kitchen chairs and table, and has resolved to stay under there at least long enough to review all the regrets and missed opportunities of his pitiful life. “It’s sad, so very sad. But it’s funny, too, because the singer knows how pathetic he is.” That’s how the artist describes it in the liner notes, which consist of a letter to “Pete and Tom,” whoever they are, asking for advice on track sequence. What this amounts to is really a home recorded demo, with minimalist instrumentation and almost no production. But the songs are so beautiful and well-crafted that it’s fine just the way it is.