The heart of a poet, the mind of a lyricist, the skill of a composer, the fingers of a musician -- rare attributes singly, but rarer still in one artistic package. Still, singer/songwriter Noah Zacharin often puts it all together on "Waiting on Your Love," his sixth CD. His thoughtful songs of love and ache, pairing and parting, and yearning and wistfulness may have been born in the manger of folk, but Zacharin infuses these 11 tracks with a fully realized instrumentation. He assembles a talented stable of musicians, including longtime Tom Waits alum Ralph Carney (on tenor sax and clarinet) to breathe life and mood into this collecton. Lines such as this reward the careful listener: "I wake at the crack and the creak and the least of sounds hammer my heart shut and hope the dark will take us down ..." (from the title track). Zacharin, who grew up in Montreal and now lives in Toronto, includes tuba, pedal steel, vox, tin whistle, guitar, and accordion to bring his creations to life. While repeated listenings reward the dedicated, Zacharin can be playful as well, with the infectious and mandolin-inflected "All Go Blind." Repeated listenings bring higher rewards. Nice stuff nicely done.

Forget all those great iconic folk legends from the past that don't seem to be making great records anymore. Listen to Noah Zacharin's recording of 'Waiting On Your Love' and get your fix. I'm going to take my guard down for a moment and give praise to where praise is due. This recording is a phenomenal feat, an effort that is spilling over with poetic imagery, original musical ideas, interesting production, creative musicianship, but most of all, heart - tons of heart. Noah is a skilled painter of emotion, joy, bitterness, darkness and light. I give this record 5 stars, Zacharin has taken his inspiration from a varied past of musical styles, folk, blues, jazz, bluegrass and everything else in between to build a seamless multi-genre masterpiece!

This CD is Noah at his best, all-around: His voice is at its strongest, honest, clear and heart-felt; his lyrics are dead-on, and if you're a songwriter, you'll probably find multiple songs you'll wish YOU had written; and the arrangements are nothing short of amazing. Noah is an excellent guitarist -- you really have to see him live to understand that all those notes are coming from only one guitar, at the same time. However, here he is willing to restrain himself for the sake of the other instruments, which only enhance (never overwhelm) the songs. An awful lot of work must have gone into getting this amazing of a sound. In paricular: I could easily imagine Tom Waits covering "Sick at the Heart." "Convertible Kind" is wicked fun. "Nothing I Can Do," "In the Heather," and "Waiting On Your Love" will break your heart. "Chasing After Bert" showcases Noah's amazing guitar-playing. Finally: While Noah uses many different musical styles, they compliment each other quite well. One song flows seamlessly into the next, mood-wise and music-wise. This is a perfect album to listen to in the still of the night, on a long solitary drive, surrounded by the dark and the glimmer of stars above. You must hear it!!!