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Like many solo acoustic musicians, Settles yearns for more fullness and needlessly adds a multitude of instruments to his basic acoustic tracks, recorded in his living room, in an attempt to aim higher than the coffeehouse crowd. He should really just stop, put down the extras and—no pun intended—settle back into his acoustic groove.

With promising songwriting and a nice ear for melody, Settles offers up some gentle folk (“Slingshot,” “Something Happened On the Way,” “Kentucky Blue,” and “Your Derivative”—the gem of this disc) but also tosses in some eyebrow-squinching pseudo-rap (“Sugar in the Raw”) and goof country (“Each Day Is Better Than The Next,” “Deaf, Dumb & Blind”).

“Produced, engineered & mixed sept/oct 2004 by burr in the living room of his second story apartment in Madison, WI….” This is why Burr Settles would put on a great house concert—maybe two dozen friends gathered in a living room with Burr and his acoustic guitar. That’s when Settles is at his best: stripped down with just his guitar.

Recommended if you like folksy Beck, Erik Brandt (Urban Hillbilly Quartet), or your local coffeehouse solo acoustic guy.

Greg Adams
7/21/06