Ron Sexsmith, by... er... Ron Sexsmith.

I learned a lot about shutting the

up by listening to this album. It is full of gaps, quiet places, implied notes, melodies and harmonies. Play less, and the audience will hear more (and the more they hear will come from their own imagination, so they will like it better).
Ron (I get to call him Ron - I've got drunk with him and sung "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman") writes an awful lot of his own material, but there is a great Leonard Cohen cover "A Heart With No Companion" on this album, he is a serious performer as well as a writer.
This album, in common with a lot of his work, looks back to the fifties, sixties and seventies with a fond and familiar eye, but there are dark undertones - alienation, abuse, drug references and so on - hidden just under the surface. The rose-tinted glasses are not as rosy as you'd like to think.
Standout track(s) is/are "There's A Rhythm" - there are two versions, one at the beginning, one at the end. It's like the bread in a sandwich: you'd be OK with one, but it's great with both.
Ron Sexsmith sounds like a sensitive little singer songwriter who was bullied at school, but in fact he wouldn't be out of place as a rugby or American football forward: he's about an inch shorter than me, but twice as wide. ET will be pleased to hear Ron's favourite sport is in fact ice hockey. "A man's game", he said...