Bright is the Ring of Words

In an age of noise and obfuscation, Mark David Ashworth has searched tirelessly for clarity and purpose. Out of this search comes Bright is the Ring of Words, the San Francisco songwriter's ruminative second album. Ashworth's musical influences read like a collection of dusty records hoarded away in a poet's attic, with artists ranging from 1960's Spanish cantatores like Luis Eduardo Aute and Joan Manuel Serrat to modern ghosts like Nick Drake and Townes Van Zandt. Scott Walker, Leonard Cohen, and Randy Newman are obvious touchstones, as are the atmospherics of Meddle-era Pink Floyd - all rounded out by a heady dose of the church music of Ashworth's childhood.