BREAKING LACES
Sohcahtoa (Sidewinder Records)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz

---

Let's not raise the stakes to beat the house just yet, but there is something utterly disarming about Brooklyn based Breaking Lace's album Sohcahtoa. Landing somewhere on the wharf between USS Violent Femmes and HMS Singer/Songwriter, this simple little album spearheaded by a diminutive little man named Willem Hartong isn't easy to pass up.

Is it his voice? Maybe. I've always been a fan of sincerity. Could it be the clean, crisp recording that makes songs like the pounding rock anthem "Plain Jane" and lightly acoustic "Meagan" simper in their own tones? I don't know. Liking this album is at once undeniable and also confounding, as there is a suspicion under this little writer's hutch about albums with songs seemingly named for ex-girlfriends. This one seems like a paean to better times in love I've heard before, but still Breaking Lace's Sohcahtoa ties up nicely in my little esteemed opinion.

[Pick this up at CDBaby.]

© 2003 - Erick Mertz