“Don’t Cry No Tears”, the second track and previously released single, is a nice reminiscing and nostalgic opener to the simple 60’s groover “Want You Around”, a love song to someone we don’t get to meet. All of these songs illustrate, back-to-back, the story of a man finding something, losing it, and only finding himself more & more in the meantime. His soft, near-spoken, vocal delivery is a tender way of speaking to his audience and simultaneously to himself. “Dear John”, is a melancholy open letter about a lost friend John, that says so much and so little. I find myself wondering if this is once again, our protagonist looking for answers through someone from the past. All again, characters in Hoare’s universe are constructed with ambiguity in a London-style fog over a genre that is too often synonymous with the colorful hippy movement. Ironically, this leads into the short instrumental “Prodigal Son”, a drum-forward groove with an uptempo chord progression that begins to shine some light on this noir piece, almost a comic relief.

“When the Feeling is Gone” hides its lyrics in its reverbed-out wash, where the listener begins to reflect the message as an internal dialogue rather than simply someone singing a nice melody. The hollow harmonies sing the mantra “Don’t go wasting your time” when the feeling is gone, all ending with a distorted lightweight synthesizer, impressionistic of the anger one can hold when they’re combative with themselves. “Black Cloud” is appropriately the darkest tune of the record– one that offers no chordal resolution with painful lyrics that can bring a tear if one finds themselves in the same world as the protagonist. “Words are sharp, cut you in two”, a hovering lyric that appropriately paints the landscape for the well-composed guitar solo outro. As a guitarist myself, I need to say that Hoare’s guitar playing is top notch and, while not going for technical virtuosity, he shines above all with his melodic sensibility that is simultaneously unlike most other guitarists that come to mind, while being cut from the same cloth as some of the best.

Maybe the most interesting juxtaposition of tunes comes from “Black Cloud” into” Mr. Softie” – an early Syd Barrett-style song, telling the story of the man who “Lives inside his head, paints his picture clean, but it’s not what it seems…”. A unique take potentially at Hoare himself, who co-fronted the Ultimate Painting years prior, now speaking to his current audience, wondering if they can see him for who he has grown to be. While this is all my speculation, this kind of honesty through music is admirable in its depth and, regardless, is much more than the easy, breezy album that it leads on.