“Living isn’t living if you’re killing time, it’s dying.” It’s this kind of quickly and tightly woven meaning and rhythm that holds this record together, for the most part. The most telling evidence of this is that the whole recipe falls apart when the poetry slows down. The preceding lyric, from A Light for Liberty, hits the target and keeps the otherwise dull guitar playing somewhat interesting. Folk Thief a.k.a. Dave Hadgkiss has a good but not spectacular voice in the context he uses it. It really shines when paired with a female partner – as in Broken Record and Breathe – but falls a little flat the rest of the time. It seems as though his focus on lyrics keeps Hadgkiss from experimenting with different, more interesting styles of guitar accompaniment, which would be okay if the lyrics were always up to par. Overall just a bit boring.

Published in Volume 66, Number 3 of The Uniter (September 15, 2011)