Frances

Paul Hogan sings stories of urban anxiety, and loves lost, accompanying his portraits with micro-symphonic grooves gathered from a diverse musical background. Hogan's debut CD, Frances, captures the spirit of a songwriter who needed many years of experiment to sculpt this intimate and controlled sound. In a set of mainly solo performances, Paul combines a knack for fresh instrumentation, blending perhaps toy piano or Pakistani banjo, with vocals and lavish laptop synthesis. This set of miniatures, tinged with folk, funk, gamelan, electronic and experimental music, is bound by Paul's simple, yet often ambiguous, lyricism. An album in the classic sense, these songs are charged and personal, like finding a stack of photos from a trip you forgot you took. -- Mike Barnhart