Lou Barlow - Goodnight Unknown

doesn’t need too much of an introduction, having seemingly been around for longer than forever in numerous guises and bands, including the sublime Dinosaur Jr to the lo-fi quirks of Sebadoh, Barlow’s output is as eclectic as his career suggests.

‘Goodnight Unknown’ is Barlow’s second solo effort, following 2005’s ‘Emoh’ and comes across as a mish mash of a record that will please fans at the very least and intrigue those who have yet to discover the man himself. Clocking in at just under 38 minutes, the fourteen tracks on show here reflect much of the earlier days of Sebadoh’s straightforward if slightly understated approach. ‘The One I Call’ is a soothing acoustic ditty that punches a beautiful heart shaped hole into even the coldest of hearts.

At odds with this is album opener ‘Sharing’, a power-pop sugar rush of a track lined with the fervent passion more akin to a fresh faced college band then a forty-something year old father of two. Less impressive is the uneven tones of ‘One Machine, One Long Flight’ which sits a tad uneasily next to its smoother compatriots on the rest of the album.

Lyrically the album tends to play it safe, but there are shards of imagination in there, the sumptuous niceties of ‘Take Advantage’ are a warming addition to an album that on the whole does what it says on the tin, no more, no less.