Be Careful What You Call Home:Paul Duncan

Artist: Paul Duncan

Date Released: October 18, 2005

Label: Hometapes

Produced By:

Tracklisting:
 * 1) In a Way
 * 2) Tired and Beholden
 * 3) The Night Gives No Applause
 * 4) Toy Bell
 * 5) You Look Like an Animal
 * 6) Toy Piano
 * 7) Manhattan Shuffle
 * 8) Toy Bass
 * 9) Oil in the Fields
 * 10) (Aria)(Cave Song)
 * 11) Content to Burn
 * 12) This Old House
 * 13) Riverbed

Review: Paul Duncan's first full-length for the Miami-based Hometapes is a patient array of delicate musical arrangements and sparse, murmured vocals. The Brooklynite via Atlanta composes very humble productions that feature a variety of acoustic instruments interlaced with soft electronics. The music takes center stage throughout though never overloads the listener, instead each song lets the core melody breathe and mature in a timely fashion. In fact, the instrumentals that make up about half the album are as strong if not stronger than the lyrical songs. Following the music, the multi-instrumental Duncan sings in an unassuming voice that borders between mutters and drunken slurs. His lyrics follow a poetic free-form structure, that are neither boringly straight-ahead or confusingly abstract, instead they come off as pleasantly intriguing to the listener, especially since they are only sprinkled throughout the 45-minute album. His closest contemporary has got to be the similarly soft-spoken José González, but he also sways rather closely to more folky experimental singer/songwriters like n. Lannon and Jim O'Rourke. Be Careful What You Call Home is an excellent debut for Duncan and hopefully is only the beginning for this promising artist. Mpardaiolo