Gabe was the lead singer and guitarist for the dearly departed Starvations and now fronts Jail Weddings. This collection of songs is Gabe solo, mostly just him and his guitar. For bearings, think Gun Club, early Nick Cave, a heart engorged with wine and whiskey, of a best friend being sorrow, and veins that pump melancholic blood, both sweet and bitter. With affairs like this—stripped down and scraping bone—one of two things happen. Either a hard light shines on the musician’s limitations to stand alone and is little more than an exercise in egoism. Or, as is the case here, it’s a rare and powerful glimpse at the very core of how a song can be written and performed at its most elemental, to show that without a solid foundation, all further embellishments are merely frosting on hollow musical monuments.
–todd (Red Wine)