Guitar Part

Lyndon Morgans, songwriter, guitarist and singer with Songdog, lists Brel, Cohen and Waits among his biggest influences and one can certainly detect that holy trinity hovering over this English band's efforts, first in the melancholic soundscape -- acoustic-guitar-based arrangements, plaintive violin, tear-jerking accordion -- and then in the lyrical approach -- the words to the songs are long and meticulous and don't get too hung up over rhyming. "A Wretched Sinner's Song" is a record that tells stories, which is why non-anglophones may find it a difficult world to enter. In the end, though, the only cause for complaint is Lyndon Morgans's vocal vibrato, for this album's cold beauty, reminiscent of Zito Swoon, is utterly fascinating.