Album Reviews
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*** Ron Sexsmith, “Ron Sexsmith,” Interscope. This baby-faced 31-year-old from Canada writes and sings about loneliness and yearning with a gentle, poignant tone, filled with the quiet but revealing moments of everyday life. The early Jackson Browne is one obvious touchstone. Tim Hardin and countryman Gordon Lightfoot are among others.
“Secret Heart,” the album’s opening track, speaks about the difficulty of sharing intimate feelings, while “Words We Never Use” looks at the ways problems are compounded by a couple’s failure to communicate.
A rarity amid the clamor of much contemporary pop music, this is a heartwarming debut whose seductiveness is based on its simplicity and craft.
New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).
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