Crushed Stars, Gossamer Days (Simulacra, 2008)

Listen: “In Parallel”

Todd Gautreau’s Crushed Stars project is enamored of refracted sunlight and beams through leafy trees; it’s careful, considered, graceful, and in love with the feel of warmth on eyelids. In addition to Gautreau’s hushed vocals — he continues the line from Nick Drake to the Clientele and the gentle pop experiments of former Unrest drummer Phil Krauth’s solo albums — Gossamer Days features a lot of softly-tumbling guitar lines and slow-motion moments that allow for everything to unfold at its own speed. And while this is all very nice, it’s songs like “In Parallel” and “Life Until Now” that are more rewarding, since Gautreau stays restrained on the mic but lets the backgrounds bloom with horn sections, organ, lead guitar figures, and even the steady, crisp chatter of a snare drum on the latter. “All Lovers Are Blind” employs a quiet trumpet and the tinkle of percussion, too; it’s probably the closest Gossamer Days gets to a true 1960s pop tribute. Another late highlight is “Snow Day,” an instrumental that seems to have cut its pristine slabs of electric piano right out of a glacier. It’s a nice addition to a record that’s pretty damn dreamy throughout; with its knowing solitude and broadly romantic lyrics, it features the sort of sound you’d imagine as the score to your fantasy autumn relationship with a pretty college professor. “We talked about Camus, we listened to Burt Jansch…the collars on our sweaters got in the way of our kissing.” — Johnny Loftus

Tags: Crushed Stars, Gossamer Days, Todd Gautreau, Burt Jansch, Nick Drake, The Clientele, Phil Krauth, Unrest