Secretly Canadian
2003
S/T
About This Album
From the head-in-the-clouds portrait on the album cover to the dreamy piano pop and off-kilter rock within, Jorma Whittaker's self-titled solo debut evokes some not-so-subtle comparisons to John Lennon's Imagine. While the comparisons don't hold up entirely, this album is more in the mode of a confessional, singer\songwriter album than Whittaker's output with Marmoset, although the trippy, droning "Molly Melancholy" would've fit in just fine on Record in Red. The overall sound of Jorma Whittaker also recalls his previous band, especially since Whittaker worked with several former Marmoset members, including LonPaul Ellrich, whose production skills gave Marmoset's albums -- and this one -- a warm, worn-in, slightly odd sound. This sound works equally well on the album's hazily atmospheric songs, such as the slightly creepy "Birds Are Falling Through the Sky," and its more upbeat moments, like the Anglophilic cover of "Man With Money," a 1965 Everly Brothers B-side. Jorma Whittaker also has the indulgent moments required of a solo album, some of which work better than others: starting the album with the slow-flowing, seven-minute ballad "Clocks in the Sun" is a daring move that eventually pays off, but the piano interlude "Morning Meets Evening Walk" conveys day shifting into night effectively, but otherwise isn't all that interesting.
Track List (try tracks 3,6,7,8 and 9)

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