After the Polygram/Universal merger essentially eliminated labels like Lee Feldman's recording home, Mercury, the musician was on his own again, and he decided to independently release the 2000 follow-up to his splendid debut. On this second full-length recording, The Man in a Jupiter Hat, Feldman continues with his established method of telling romantic, often sad urban tales about people immersed in moments of strange emotional connection and irrational, yet undeniable fear. The name that always comes up when describing Feldman's deceptively tragic and reductive songwriting is, of course, Randy Newman. It is abundantly clear that Newman's funny, conversational, yet emotionally flammable lyrical tone had an influence on Feldman, but the younger artist manages to separate his music with a dry vocal delivery and direct infusions of his own truth and experience. Besides some denser arrangements, The Man in a Jupiter Hat doesn't stray to far from the formula that made Feldman's debut such an artistic (if not commercial) success. Sparse, musical, and intelligently sincere, this 2000 release is a well-crafted songwriting gem.
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