Like a Fire That Consumes All Before It...

Adam Arcuragi may perplex some listeners: is he alt-country? Neo-folk? "Death gospel?" (His words, not ours.) Where does he fit in, exactly? If labels are important to you, we'll leave it to you to work out that particular puzzle, while we marvel over how Arcuragi and his band (The Lupine Chorale Society) recall artists like Paul Westerberg, The Avett Brothers, and Damien Jurado yet are imbued with the bedeviled soul of Nick Cave. The opening track, "Oh I See," is a powerhouse tune, with the scruffy-throated singer leading a wave of guitar, thumping toms, and piano to a crashing end. A gruff, belching growl and banjo open the thorny, rollicking "A President's Song," and Arcuragi's poetic lyrics tell a story, albeit a hazy one, of the broken promises of the "church in our chests, the reckless and pealing bells." He wails with a moaning chorus on the goth-tinged, Cave-ish ballad "I Called," but then he strums his way to a saloon barstool on "Last Long Rain" and turns into a deeply soulful puddle on the gospel-flavored "The Well." Arcuragi gets better with each release, and this one's clearly pointing the way to even greater things.