Album Notes

With each cd, Rand Reynolds continues to define himself. In "Black Swan," Reynolds opts to strip down to one guitar and vocal for most tracks, and he sounds complete. Rarely does an Americana artist dig so deeply and stare so anxiously into his own personal abyss that the listener almost hopes that the artist never finds rest and continues to search for what makes us all do what we do. He never tries to be more than he is. And while his unflinching honesty might provoke pained winces from his audience, that's what they've come to expect and appreciate. Overall, this is a record of haunted meditations by a man who sounds frayed and ravaged, but his world-weary ways only enhances Black Swan's sense of purpose. Reynolds always seems to be sitting and waiting on something that's just around the corner. He just doesn't have a clue of what it is yet. And to his credit, perhaps, Reynolds never claimed to be a singer, but the lyrics falling out of his mouth ring true -- and we know he means every word of it.