D. Braxton Harris: Deep Dark Black

"We tried to make the following songs as slow and depressing as we could," write the members of Favez in the liner notes to the often breathtaking A Sad Ride On The Line Again, the best album to be recorded live in a church since Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Session. It's hard to listen to these 10 songs without drawing Radiohead comparisons—the pacing is invariably languid and Chris Wicky's vocals are generally delivered in a familiar sort of detached whisper—but that's the furthest thing from grounds for dismissal. Rather than emulating the easily imitated sides of Radiohead's sound, drenching its songs in overproduced bombast or engaging in pitch-perfect imitation, the Swiss band simply finds a similar flair for melody and uses it as a skeletal framework for beautiful songs that stand on their own terms. Obtuse title aside, "The Man With Forehead Eyes" would make a marvelous single a la "Fake Plastic Trees," while "Rock 'n Roll Stars" transcends both its self-conscious irony and its blatant Radioheadedness. Like Favez, Birmingham, Alabama-based singer D. Braxton Harris can too easily be dismissed on the surface as a soundalike: His album Deep Dark Black, released earlier this year but slowly (and deservedly) picking up grassroots steam, could probably pass for a new Richard Buckner disc. But, also like Favez, Harris compensates by making music that's so beautiful, it doesn't matter who or what the reference points are. Spare, intimate, and invariably winsome, Deep Dark Black makes for perfect late-night-driving music, with Harris' twangy vocals effectively laid bare whether they accompany bare-bones arrangements ("Fan") or a more commercial assortment of strings and slide guitars ("Halogen"). There's nary a misfire on either of these records, with each standing as a rare and beautiful find no matter who or what it resembles. (Doghouse, P.O. Box 8946, Toledo, OH 43623; Ideal, 328 Shenandoah Dr., Birmingham, AL 35226)