Record Review - 2 April 01 2004

Los Angeles’ One AM Radio (led by Hrishikesh Hirway) traverses the crowded territory where artists like Postal Service, Languis, Tristeza and Magnetic Fields (the forefather of ‘em all) tame electronic music into cozily woebegone singer/songwriter melancholia. Expect a Sunday New York Times think piece on this phenomenon any week now.

A Name Writ in Water, One AM Radio’s second full-length, reflects the pervasive overcast atmosphere of slate-gray sky meeting charcoal-gray water (a shade cast not only on the songs but the packaging’s imagery). Hirway sings as if a sleeping baby were snoozing in the studio. Outside of emo’s hemorrhoidal whine, this honeyed-whisper style is among the most common in indie rock and its preciousness can grate, even during a relatively succint, though not necessarily underdeveloped, 35-minute work such as A Name.

That said, Hirway is a thoughtful, even poetic, songwriter. He conveys romantic longing with nature imagery (that old standby) in fresh ways. Hirway’s spare, acoustic guitar-based songs benefit from Jane Yakowitz’s baroque coloration with violin and singing saw and Paul Findlen’s subtle bass ballast.

Though electronica eccentric Daedelus and tech-house mensch John Tejada mixed and mastered the disc, the beats here don’t dazzle. Blanched recreations of “Funky Drummer” and “When the Levee Breaks” won’t win originality awards, and the album’s other rhythms are either squarely functional or barely noticeable. Only the restrained euphoria of “Those Distant Lights” nudges one out of a “drowsy haze” (One AM Radio’s overiding sonombulist slink, and an all-too-aptly titled additional track on A Name).

A Name is immaculately crafted. But sometimes immaculate craftsmanship glazes eyes more than it opens them with wonder.

The One AM Radio plays MJQ’s Drunken Unicorn Room Tues., April 6. 9 p.m. $5.