It’s been said that Rock Plaza Central’s sophomore effort, ...At the Moment of Our Most Needing, or If They Could Turn Around, They Would Know They Weren’t Alone, falls short of their more consistent 2007 debut, Are We Not Horses; but it’s pretty hard to complain about an album that boasts bittersweet folk jams like (The World is) Good Enough and rollicking love songs like The Hot Blind Earth. As on Horses, strings, horns and group chants ornament Chris Eaton’s path-beaten parables, but this time around the song arrangements seem more predictable. A wry, vaguely spiritual optimism is present throughout the best songs on this disc. It may not be Rock Plaza Central’s highly anticipated masterpiece, but ...At the Moment of Our Most Needing gives listeners plenty of reasons to look forward to the rest of this band’s already fine career.

Published in Volume 64, Number 2 of The Uniter (September 10, 2009)