City Music

After the success of Kevin Morby’s Singing Saw, some might’ve swept his recent City Music aside as merely B-sides quilted together for a rushed full-length. What else would the man have had time for with his constant touring? Turns out he made time for his deepest endeavor yet. A majority of these songs are ones that Morby’s had in a drawer for a few years, and all together, City Music feels like a safe haven for each of these odes to friends and life in New York City. Aside from the rapid Ramones call-off “1234,” the album hangs in a mellow twilight space. There are soothing tunes like “Dry Your Eyes,” with its bare-bones setup and refreshingly naked harmonies and a brief Flannery O’Connor excerpt describing the first sight of a city (read by Meg Baird). The title track instantly sways to a near-perfect catchy guitar riff, trotting through almost seven gradually building minutes without falling off course. It embodies the allure of a city, and its own plain intrigue as well.