*** Richard Davies

TELEGRAPH

(Flydaddy)

Back when he was collaborating with Eric Matthews in Cardinal, singer/songwriter Richard Davies got a reputation for orch-pop, a shorthand term for pop with strings and such. The two albums he's released since, however, have been sparse affairs dominated by acoustic guitar and piano, with nary a violin in earshot.

Telegraph is by far the most accessible, much more so than 1996's chilly There's Never Been a Crowd like This. Chiming 12-string guitars give a warm psychedelic glow to "Cantina." And the loose groove at the end of "Confederate Cheerio Call" has a lived-in feel that's a new and welcome addition to the Davies style. Davies himself remains idiosyncratic and unpredictable: "Evergreen" features some odd harmonic twists, and "Eye Camera" trails off into a delicate bridge that never resolves. I haven't a clue what to make of lyrics like "Before an eagle has an accident/Please send in for an ambulance" ("Main Street Electrical Parade"). But the sound of the words matches the music so well that it doesn't matter.

-- Mac Randall