With his debut album,
Hollow, Toronto native
Howie Beck has constructed a remarkably rich and melancholy work.
Beck put this album together in his bedroom studio, but this is a homespun recording with a lush heart -- and not some lo-fi curiosity. With his unerringly pop-tinged songcraft, swooning (albeit primarily acoustic-based) arrangements, and breathy vocals,
Beck often evokes (and matches the feats of) such pensive pop masters as
Joe Pernice (
the Pernice Brothers) and
Elliott Smith -- especially on such blissfully reflective fare as "Maybe I Belong" and "Serves You Right."
Hollow is packed to the seams with breathtakingly melodic sleights of hand, and seems to dwell permanently in some gorgeously brokenhearted twilight state. ~ Erik Hage