Between the Blue and the Green

After years of doing the lo-fi home recording thing all by himself, Benji Cossa has moved up in the world — the liner notes to Between the Blue and the Green inform us that most of the album was recorded at other people's houses for a change, and one was cut in an honest-to-goodness recording studio in New York. Cossa also has a band on most of these 13 songs, though thankfully the results tend to enhance rather than dilute the charm of Cossa's playful but engaging songs, sunny melodies, and joyous vocals. Most of the Between the Blue and the Green still sounds like the work of an inspired amateur, not because the craft is faulty (it isn't) but because of the guilelessness of Cossa's musical personality and the open honesty of his music; this doesn't sound like the work of someone who has given any thought to creating a persona for the stage, but of a musician who is just being himself before the microphone and happens to be having a grand time doing it. Even the relatively somber songs like "Tonight," "Alone," and "Have You Seen" aren't so dark that they don't let a bit of light shine though, and the tinkling chimes and huffing-puffing accordion of "Streets to Streams" add a warm pastoral undertow to a song that could pass for Village Green Preservation Society-era Ray Davies in dim light. On Between the Blue and the Green, Benji Cossa manages the rare feat of sounding sweet but not cloying, playful but not willfully naïve, and it's a simple, satisfying joy to hear.